


Urban Legends

by FanfictionReader2015AD



Series: Anthology Series [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Gossip Girl (TV 2007), Original Work, Pretty Little Liars, Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen, Urban Legend 'Bloody Mary', Urban Legend 'Hanako of the Toilet', Urban Legend 'Shadow People aka Shadow Person', Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:29:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21590002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanfictionReader2015AD/pseuds/FanfictionReader2015AD
Summary: All My Urban Legend Stories be between 1000 Words to 10000 Words
Series: Anthology Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556164
Comments: 30
Kudos: 3





	1. Urban Legends to be used

**Author's Note:**

> All My Urban Legend Stories be between 1000 Words to 10000 Words

Writers: rutz22 (Bloody Mary's Story 1) and daisymae07 (Bloody Mary's Story 2), rutz22 (Shadow People aka Shadow Person), rubymilk (Hanako of the Toilet), cheyennewriter (The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs), leskiy (Sleepy Hollow and Headless Horseman), shailenemarks (Haunted Home of H H Holmes)

**Story 1: Bloody Mary's 1th Story / Fandom: Gossip Girl TVShow**

Characters: Blair Waldorf, Jennifer Humphrey, Nelly Yuki, Charlotte Rhodes, Serena Woodsen, Ivan (Original Character for this Fanfic)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mary_(folklore)

**Story 2: Bloody Mary's 2th Story / Fandom: Gossip Girl TVShow**

Characters: Blair Waldorf, Jessica Leitenberg, Jennifer Humphrey, Ivy Dickens, Charlotte Rhodes, Georgina Sparks, Serena Woodsen, Ivan (Original Character for this Fanfic)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mary_(folklore)

**Story 3: Shadow People aka Shadow Person / Original Story**

Characters: Blair Lind, Ivan Lind, Sophie Lind, Mary Lind, Dimitri Lind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_person

**Story 4: Hanako of the Toilet / Fandom: Gossip Girl TVShow**

Characters: Elena Rossi, Dimitri Alexeev, Michelle Smith, Kim Hall, Blair Waldorf, Ivan Chernov

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanako-san

**Story 5: The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs / Fandom: Vampire Diaries TVShow, Arrow TVShow**

Characters: Caroline Forbes, Sara Lance, Man, Dimitri Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic), Anastasia Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic), Alexander Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic), Anastasia Junior Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_babysitter_and_the_man_upstairs

**Story 6: Haunted Home of H H Holmes**

Characters: Ghost of Serial Murderer H H Holmes, Scott Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic), Nina Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic), Ivan Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic), Dimitri Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic), Tiffany Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic), Blair Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)

**Story 7: Sleepy Hollow and Headless Horseman / Fandom: Supergirl**

Characters: Headless Horseman, Lena Luthor (Supergirl TVShow), Jess (Supergirl TVShow), Blair (Original Character for this Fanfic), Chuck (Original Character for this Fanfic)

**Story 8: Kuchisake-onna aka Slit-Mouthed Woman (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: Quinn (Boyfriend of Elena), Elena (Girlfriend of Quinn), Caitlin (Girlfriend of Lena), Lena (Girlfriend of Caitlin)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuchisake-onna

**Story 9: Kunekune aka Wriggling body (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: Lena Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Lucy Lane, Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunekune_(urban_legend)

**Story 10: Teke Teke (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: Lena Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Lucy Lane, Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teke_Teke

**Story 11: Kokkuri aka Kokkuri-san (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: Lena Luthor, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Lucy Lane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokkuri_(game)

**Story 12: Ankle Slicing Car Thief or The Man Under The Car (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

**Story 13: Fair Charlotte (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Charlotte

**Story 14: Vanishing Hitchhiker (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_hitchhiker

**Story 15: The Licked Hand (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Licked_Hand

**Story 16: Killer in the backseat (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_in_the_backseat

**Story 17: The Hook aka The Hookman (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hook

**Story 18: Black Eyed Children (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-eyed_children

**Story 19: Vanishing Lady aka Vanishing Hotel Room (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

**Story 20: Nale Ba aka Naale Baa (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nale_Ba

**Story 21: Cosmetic Sesame (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

**Story 22: Curse of the Red Room (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

**Story 23: La Llorona aka The Weeping Woman (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona

**Story 24: Anhangá (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhang%C3%A1

**Story 25: Will-o'-the-wisp (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will-o%27-the-wisp

**Story 25: Curupira (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curupira

**Story 25: Sack Man aka Man with the Bag (Coming 2020) / Fandom:**

Characters: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_Man


	2. Bloody Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Blair Waldorf  
> Jennifer Humphrey  
> Nelly Yuki  
> Charlotte Rhodes  
> Serena Woodsen  
> Ivan (Original Character for this Fanfic)

I don't know," said Nelly as she sat on the couch, one leg on another.

"Oh, I know," said Jennifer, "This seems like a stupid idea to me."

"Look, if Ivan said we should do it, and then we should," said Blair as she tried to defend her boyfriend.

"Are you really considering that we revert to our childhood and actually have a slumber party?" asked Charlotte, "Because I have not heard anything about the Bloody Mary since I was in third grade."

"I don't know why but I think Blaire is a little out of her mind right now," said Serena as she rolled her eyes."

They were holed up in a cabin off the fifth interstate and they were all irritable. At first, when Ivan had asked the girls to come with him, they thought there was going to be a party. Matters soon took a turn for the worst as the pickup stopped outside a completely abandoned and cold cabin.

With the cabin completely empty, they all looked at Ivan for an explanation which he was lost for. All he had to say on the subject was that he had to run around the corner to get some supplies for the party. The girls were not happy but they did not say anything about it so that Blair's feelings were not hurt. Ivan could see the lack of enthusiasm for his plan so he stayed a little longer than he had intended to.

"Okay, gather around ladies," he said as all six girls came to sit by the fireplace in the living room.

"Now, I know that you were expecting something different but I am off my schedule," he announced, "If you would please be a little more cheerful, that would make my day."

They were all surprised when Blair questioned the plan herself.

"What are we doing here?" she asked Ivan who was at a loss of words.

"Well, we are here to party but obviously the guys are not here."

"What guys?" asked Blair with a frown on her forehead.

"Oh, relax!" he said, "What would be a party without boys?"

"Are they from your school?" asked Blair.

"Yes, they are and guess what? They have an endless supply of alcohol."

"But we are not old enough yet," said Jennifer, "My folks would kill me."

"That is the point of this whole cabin," said Ivan, "So, who is with me?"

Several girls raised their hands and it seemed like the party was going to continue.

"What do we do till the guys and the supplies get here?" asked Serena sarcastically.

"I don't know," said Ivan as he left the cabin, "I dare all of you could play Bloody Mary!"

"Is he serious?" asked Serena, "Is that what he just said?"

"I don't know," said Blaire, "It has been a while since I have played it."

"It is not like we have a lot of options here," said Ivy as she went in search of the bathroom.

The bathroom was run-down and dirty. Ivan was not going to have it easy for leaving six high maintenance girls in the middle of nowhere without even the facility of adequate bathrooms.

Ivy emerged from the bathroom with her shirt on her nose. The girls groaned out in disappointment as they realized that even the bathroom was off-limits for them.

"I think Bloody Mary would die out of the smell in there," said Ivy as she took a seat next to Blair.

"She would if she was called," said Blair in agreement.

"We shall all go and try it," said Ivy, "I don't know if the magic works if I have a cloth on my nose."

They all laughed and Blair relaxed a little; maybe, Ivan still had a chance of saving this thing. They all went to the bathroom and looked at each other as if it was a joke. The bathroom was barely big enough for them to fit in. In darkness, the girls chanted Bloody Mary thrice before running out of the bathroom. The place was smelly and disgusting.

Just as they were beginning to settle in, they heard a voice in the back room.

They all looked at each other to see if one of them had wandered off to the backside, but they were all present in that room.

"If we are here illegally we could get in big trouble."

"I think my father would be able to get us out of this situation if the need arose."

"Shh!" said Serena as they heard the noise of water running from one of the bedrooms.

"Maybe someone is in there," said Charlotte, "This place must be a hub for druggies!"

"Ivan is so not getting off the hook for this," said Serena, "First, he brought us to this place and then he leaves."

"I am sure he would be on his way back soon."

"You know what?" said Serena, "This is ridiculous, I am going inside to see who it is."

They all tried to grab her dress as she made her way to the backside but she was gone before they could act. They all got up and waited for something to happen but it was awfully quiet back there. Charlotte and Ivy got up and grabbed pans from the kitchen as weapons in case they needed it.

When nothing happened, they looked at each other in confusion. After five minutes had passed, Blaire went in to see where Serena was. The room was entirely empty and there was no sign of either Serena or the running water.

"Where did she go?" asked Blair as she came out of the room but there was no one in the living room.

That was strange; were they planning to leave her there alone all along? Blair looked out of the window and saw their pickup standing outside. Had someone taken the girls? Was this some sort of a prank? She was really feeling uneasy about this.

Just as Blair began to get angry, a loud crash came from the room that she had just exited. She turned just in time to see Serena lying on the bed upside down, her eyes bleeding red fluid. Blair retched on the floor as she tried to regain her balance. What in the world had she just seen? Blaire would never forget the way Serena's eyes were missing and there were streams of blood running down her cheek.

Blair wanted to get out of the house and drive the pickup away but she could not leave the others behind. Someone in that cabin was playing a sick joke on them and Blair could not ditch her friends. She could still not believe that Serena was dead. They had just been fighting a few minutes ago. She had mixed feelings about Ivan? Was he involved in all this? Blair was getting sick to her stomach but before she could get back to herself she heard another bang.

Blair was not ready to lose any of her other friends. There was only one solution to this problem and if Blair was to go through with it, she had to be fast. Grabbing the pot in the kitchen, Blair rushed to the other room. As she went running she tripped on something heavy lying on the floor. Blair screamed as she saw Jennifer and Charlotte lying on the floor, their eyes missing from their faces.

Blair had never seen so much blood in her life. Her body was shutting down to the horrors of the situation. She wanted to move and to run, she wanted to scream but her senses were not working. Her stomach ached at the thought that Ivan had something to do with it but at the same time, the legend of bloody Mary was fresh in her memory.

She looked away from the corpses of her friends only to see the mirror in the bathroom. Although there was a big crack on the mirror, Blair could see a woman with long hair staring at her through the mirror. Blaire screamed and ran out even though she could hear the screams of Ivy from the bathroom. She was fumbling her things to find the key to the car.

Her hands were numb and pale. She could not even grab the pan anymore. Thinking of the spare key in the dashboard, Blair ran off out of the house in the car but what she saw in the car made her scream. It was the body of Nelly as she tried to start the truck. The Bloody Mary must have taken her when she was about to escape.

How was she still alive when no one else was? Was there any possibility that Ivan would be coming back for her? Something was wrong about this cabin from the beginning and now all her friends were dead. She was never going to get out of the place alive! She sat on the ground and began crying with fear but her adrenaline was kicking in.

She could not lose hope like that, she had to survive. Wiping her tears and getting up, Blair pulled Nelly's body out of the car and got inside. Her heart kept thumping and her brain kept asking her the question of what she would tell to all the parents back home. Ignoring the urge to pity her, Blaire drove along.

She could not believe that she was going to be saved. She had done it; she had escaped a terrible situation. Now that the cabin was behind her, she could breathe. She looked in the rearview mirror one last time to see the body of Nelly lying on the ground.

Instead, Blair saw the woman from the bathroom in the mirror. She had a wild smile on her face as she attacked Blair. Blair tried to keep the steering in check but her eyes were now beginning to bleed.

As the car crashed into the tree and Blair bled to death, she could see a car approaching from the distance.

Ending

Ivan did not belong to the same upper class as the rest of them and had to disappoint some of the girls to make his plan work. In his mind, this was the perfect place to do drugs and to drink all they wanted. No one was going to find out about this.

It was true that the run had taken longer than usual, but he now had the drinks and the guys. After the initial disappointment, Blair was going to love Ivan for this party. He had spent weeks formulating a plan that would suit all the girls.

He and his pals drove towards the cabin with fresh supplies to eat and to drink. The place was deserted for miles so no one would complain to the loud music either. It was true that he should have gotten the place cleaned first, but then again, he was not a pro yet.

Just as he turned the corner towards the cabin, he saw a car collide with a tree with a bang. The guys got off the car and ran towards it but the car exploded. Ivan prayed that it was not Blair in the car but he could identify the cloth of her shirt. The guys tried to restrain him but he wanted to see if she was still there in the cabin.

"Let it be one of the other girls," he prayed but deep inside he knew what he had just witnessed.

Ivan ran inside the cabin to see all the dead bodies piled up against one another.

The cops came and went but they could not determine the cause of death for the other five girls. Blair's father gave Ivan a hard time and considered him responsible for her death but there was no evidence of Ivan's involvement.

Truth be told, Ivan was at fault there. He should have never taken the girls to that cabin, he should have never left them alone and most of all, he should have never dare them to play bloody Mary.


	3. Bloody Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Blair Waldorf  
> Jessica Leitenberg  
> Jennifer Humphrey  
> Ivy Dickens  
> Charlotte Rhodes  
> Georgina Sparks  
> Serena Woodsen  
> Ivan (Original Character for this Fanfic)

Blair Waldorf sat at home, curled up on the couch next to my boyfriend Ivan as we watched some dumb sports movie that he'd put on and was engrossed with. I sighed for the hundredth time as some dumb boy ran with a ball, this was not my cup of tea at all.

"Ugh babe, do we have to watch this trash?" I whined, hoping I could persuade him to put on a movie that had a lot less sports in.

"If your so bored babe why don't we play a game of truth or dare, unless you're scared after last time?" He teased with a wink. My cheeks began to feel warm, and if I wasn't so damn bored of this film, I would have probably been sensible and said no thank you. But I didn't, I nodded at him, determined not to let him win this time.

"Okay I'll go first, I dare you to turn this trash off." I said, a smirk pulling at the edges of my mouth, happy to finally get that movie turned off. He rolled his eyes but picked up the tv remote and switched it off.

"Well, I'm not going to pick some pansy dare like yours, I dare you to go to the bathroom and say bloody Mary, you know how it goes." Ivan replied, a glint in his eyes. I gulped, I wasn't a particularly superstitious person, but this kind of thing made me nervous, especially given the backstory of the ritual. I paused, could I really go through with this? Of course I could, it was just some dumb prank Ivan had come up with to try and make me scared.

"And you called mine boring." I drawled, putting on a show of nonchalance, hiding my nerves deep down, he didn't need to know that I was scared. His mouth pulled up into a grin, clearly my bravado had him fooled, he'd always said he liked a girl who didn't scare easy.

I headed to the bathroom that was just off the room we were in, closing the door behind me after flashing Ivan a wink. I took a deep breath, nothing was going to happen, it was just a stupid prank, I reminded myself.

"Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." I whispered under my breath, spinning round in a circle each time I said it. I finished the final circle and looked in the mirror, my breath caught in my throat. I rubbed my eyes, my reflection was… hazy? I stepped closer to have a better look, as I did the lights switched off and I screamed. I spun around and ran from the bathroom, Ivan bent over laughing as I did, his hand on the bathroom light switch.

I glared at him and moved towards my shoes, if he was going to be like this I wasn't going to stick around whilst he made fun of me. And I also didn't want to be in this house after what I'd done, I know it was Ivan who did the lights but my reflection was still weird. I stormed out the house and headed back to mine, Ivan still laughing behind me.

I woke up to sobbing the next morning. Confused and concerned I pulled my fluffy slippers on and padded downstairs. I wandered into the kitchen and saw my mother sitting at the table, tears streaming down her face as my father stood next to her rubbing her back. They both glanced up as I entered.

"Oh honey, oh my sweet darling girl, I'm so sorry." My mother said, her voice quivering. I ran to her side and went down on my knees next to her, grasping her hand.

"What is it mama, what's happened?!" I asked, worry making my voice higher than normal.

"It's your friend, Serena Woodsen. Something happened to her last night." My father said, his face tired.

"She was found this morning in her bathroom, str- strangled." My mother said, tears welling in my eyes as she did. The phone pierced through the grief like a whistle, my father shuffled over to answer as my mother engulfed me in a hug, my shoulders shaking over the news of my friend being dead. My father put the phone down and turned to face us, his eyes heavy.

"It's Jessica," I gasped, not sweet Jessica Leitenberg, please don't say it father, she can't be dead! "She was found in the same condition half an hour ago. We're not to go anywhere on our own." He continued, his voice monotone. I collapsed into my mothers arms, my shoulders shaking from the sobs wracking my body. Why was this happening, was it all because of that stupid dare? My eyes widened, it was! It had to be, it was all my fault!

My father lead me and my mother upstairs, there had been four more deaths since Jessica Leitenberg, Jennifer Humphrey, Ivy Dickens, Charlotte Rhodes and now Georgina Sparks were all dead. And it was all my fault. My mother tucked me into bed, her eyes still red from crying. No one was to leave their houses today, not until the killer had been caught. They'd already killed off all of my friends, I couldn't help but think that I would be next, all because of the stupid boy Ivan, who hadn't even called to check up on me.

Ending

I opened my eyes blearily, my bladder screaming at me to go to the toilet. I sighed and padded over to the bathroom, turning the light on and closing the door. I looked in the mirror and stared in horror. Standing behind me was a woman covered in blood, her body decaying. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing was coming out, I tried to flee but my body was frozen. Her hand wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air supply, the last thing I heard before the blackness consumed me was, "Here I am, Bloody Mary at your service."


	4. Shadow People aka Shadow Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Blair Lind  
> Ivan Lind  
> Sophie Lind  
> Mary Lind  
> Dimitri Lind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Story goto be my Longest Urban Story.  
> This Fanfic goto Updated once a While.

“Are you even sure we are in the right cabin?” asked Mary as she checked out their weekend getaway cabin.

“The key works doesn’t it?” said Blair as he ruffled the hair of his oldest daughter.

The Lind Family (Blair is Wife of Ivan, Ivan is Husband of Blair, Sophie is Youngest Daughter, Mary is Oldest Daughter, Dimitri is Son) had been saving money for a better holiday trip for a long time. Of course, their bills kept interfering with their plans for a vacation. After canceling their plans for the third time in a row, the family was desperate for a getaway. Of course, they had to settle for a cheap cabin without the facilities of having malls and branded food stores in the vicinity but at least, they were on a vacation.

When Blaire Lind had first stepped foot in the rundown cabin she had expected her husband to complain but Ivan was too busy teaching Dimitri the golden rules of camping.

“We are not even camping, Dad!” said Dimitri as he rolled his eyes at his father.

“It wouldn’t harm you to learn something, would it?”

“This place is covered with dust!” said Sophie innocently. The poor soul had no idea that the rest of the family was trying to overlook the cons.

“That is why I asked, Mom,” said Mary, “Maybe, there is another cabin nearby which is cleaner and more humane.”

“There is nothing wrong with this cabin and if you have problems with the dust in this cabin, you best start cleaning.”

This shut Mary up for good as she sat in a corner with her cell phone.

“Great!” said Mary as she threw her hands up in the air in frustration, “There is no internet service here!”

“That is an excellent thing!” said Ivan as he tried to support his wife, “Back in our days, we never had internet.”

“How back was that exactly?” asked Mary sarcastically and they all laughed.

Blair took a deep sigh of relief; at least, they were joking about it.

When Blair sat on one of the sofas, a cloud of dust rose in the air making her cough. Without saying another word, Blair started cleaning the house. They had many fresh disposable towels in their luggage to clean the place. There was a garage attached to the cabin and since the place was so rundown, the couple assumed that the garage was also included in the package.

Blair found brooms, bleach, water sprays, and many other useful items from the garage to clean the rooms. She was just about to leave the garage when she saw something move in the distance. Since they had been driving all morning to get to this location, it was well past evening. Blair tried to see carefully what or who had moved in the distance but the darkness was overwhelming. Considering it to be a misconception, Blair continued collecting items from the garage and left the garage open. She did not ask the children to clean up because she knew it would ruin the idea of a holiday. Her husband, however, started rearranging the sofas and mopping the floor instantly.

The kids felt bad for their parents and they did not have much else to do so they decided to jump in as well. It was almost an hour before the place was finally fit enough for humans to live. While they all cleaned the house together, only Blair had the courage and the experience to tackle the bathrooms. The girls did not even go in the rooms and Dimitri kept talking about all the disgusting things that might have happened in those bathrooms. At last, Blair was able to clean the bathroom as well but there was one cabinet that did not open from its place.

Given that the place was in the middle of nowhere, Blair thought that the repair must have been costly for the owners. What she did not see was the small hole in the wall through which someone was watching her. In the end, she was too tired to even take a bath or change her clothes and the family slept in what they were wearing because no one had the energy to change. Dimitri did not even have the time to take his shoes off.

The lack of curtains made it easier for them to wake up in the morning. The rays of the sun hit Mary’s eyes directly and she woke up to see the clock showing it was seven in the morning. She wanted to groan in frustration but she didn’t want the others to wake up just yet. She yawned widely and headed to the kitchen to see if there was anything in the cabinets, though judging by the state of the things, the only thing she was likely to find was a nest of rats.

Much to Mary’s surprise, she noticed a tray of freshly baked cookies lying on the table. At first, she thought that this was a gesture from her mother but then she remembered that the gas cylinder was not connected to the stove in the cabin. She went closer and touched the cookies; they were oven-warm. There was a note on the side of the table that said- “Welcome to the Becht Cabin, your very friendly neighbors.”

Mary smiled at the courtesy of people in the countryside but that was before she remembered that she had locked all the doors and windows before sleeping herself. She swallowed hard and checked the doors again but they were still locked from the inside. Struggling to understand how anyone would have gotten inside and then left and then locked the cabin from the inside was something she was having trouble adjusting to.

She was still deep in thought when she saw someone walking away from the cabin in the distance. At first, she thought that the person was wearing an odd hat of some sort but then she realized that the person was wearing a strange dress. The dress was more like a hoodie from the top and a gown from below but the top was more pointed than round. Mary watched the girl walk straight into the woods and disappear out of sight.

Did the girl really vanish or was she too far for Mary to see? She was still thinking about this when someone put a hand on her shoulder from behind.

Mary turned around to silence, to nothing.  All she could see was endless darkness in broad daylight. I t made her feel as if she was falling into a deep abyss. Her heart was sinking due to the fear and each and every hair of her body was standing up in the  frightening experience . She had never felt such threatening vibes before.  She looked towards the cabin but wasn’t able to find anything outside of ordinary. Even though her body was in a fright trance, she couldn’t help but try to solve the mystery just to calm her heart.

Mary didn’t believe what she had seen. She heard a shallow sound coming from the room her mother had cleaned the past day. She moved towards it and saw the cabinet, the very same cabinet that her mother couldn’t open no matter how hard she pulled. Still cautious, she moved closer.

“It isn’t possible!”  she said to herself while moving towards the cabinet. 

Being vary of the smallest movements and sounds, she moved closer and closer. Strangely, it was going way too normal for all the recent happenings with Mary. She touched the cabinet barely with her fingertips as if anything could jump out of it at any moment. It was dead calm.  She traced it while  looking around and reach ed for the handle.  Mary pulled, the cabinet didn’t budge, she pulled harder, yet all the same. She kept at it for a few minutes. Trying as hard as she could, pulling as hard as her body allowed her to but all in vain. The cabinet wasn’t showing any signs of opening. The cabinet had been sealed tight. Maybe to keep something inside, or maybe no one bothered to open it and clean it for years. Mary, in all frustration, kicked the cabinet. As soon as she kicked, she heard a kid’s laugh in some distance.

Mary was frightened all over again and was dead locked at her position. She couldn’t turn around, she didn’t want to turn around. But she knew that she had to as she had to make sure. She wanted all this to be just her imagination, her mind playing tricks with her. Swallowing her fear and taking a deep breath, she turned around. She saw a smiling eye through the crack in the wall. All she could see was the eye, but she knew that the person beyond the wall was smiling as if it found a prey. She felt the gaze right into her soul as the eye left the crack in the wall. She was dying or maybe she saw death in the depths of the eye smiling at her. The was an eerie feeling filled in the room. Mary was too afraid to think or do anything, as a matter of fact. She just stood there, processing the situation in her mind and giving herself fake reassurances.

Mary closed her eyes tightly, as if she wanted to prove herself wrong but when she opened her eyes, she could see the whole face right in front of her. She gasped and backed off a few paces in terror but there was no one to be found in the room. Scared of all the procession, Mary ran off to find her brother, hoping he would provide her with the comfort her parents would not care to give in that kind of a situation.

Meanwhile, Blair moved irritably in her bed as she tried to find a comfortable spot in the worn out bed.  Ivan had wished Blair sweet dreams before they went to sleep. But Blair  had nightmares that were the absolute opposite of sweet. She saw a group of individuals killing her children one by one forcing her to watch. Blair had been through many lucid dreams before. She could normally find out whether what was happening was real or a dream, but this nightmare was something else. The nightmare was way too clear for her to realize that it was a dream. She saw Mary being split in two and guts getting spilled out by a guy holding a chain saw. It was worse for  Sophie, she was having her  fingernails ripped out one by one as she screamed her lungs out in agony. But what hi t Blair the hardest was when one of the murderers placed the roughly cut head  of Dimitri in the lap of Blair. She screamed in the dream at this sight which woke her up. She was sweating heavily. She looked at her right and found her husband peacefully sleeping. She wiped the sweat and quickly looked towards her right only to find Dimitri missing. She start ed to vigorously move Ivan and shout his name  and tried to wake him up in all the panic . He  didn’t wake up despite all her efforts. At this moment, she sense d something from the corner of her eye. She fe lt someone standing  and staring her down  in a distance. She slowly turn ed her head towards the side. The person standing  wa s wearing a full body dress with a slightly pointed cap and smiling at her. The re we re blood stains over his clothes. Blair, still frightened, move d her gaze from the pointy cap on his head to his  blood-stained  shoulders and the n towards his hands only to scream at the top of her lungs. The person standing  and smiling in distance was holding Dimitri’s cut head in his hand. He had gripped his hair and was grinning widely at Blair. This scream sent Blair to bed again and once again, she opened her eyes to realize that it was yet a dream. She found Dmitri lying near her with his shoes still on his feet. Blair took a sigh of relief and woke up Ivan.

“I don’t like this place, honey. I get a strange feeling that we shouldn’t be staying here.”  Blair told her husband with the lingering fear of the nightmare she had.

“What happened, Blair? We just reached yesterday, you are yet to look around and find how beautiful this place is”  replied Ivan not having a single clue about his wife’s frightened  state.

Instead of telling him of the nightmare she had, Blair thought of Sophie and Mary. She got up and looked for them leaving her husband stay in bed with no knowledge of what was happening. Blair found Sophie in  her bed, but Mary was not there. She moved towards the kitchen while calling her name only to find her  missing from the house.

“Ivan!” shouted Blair as she found her husband lying on the couch with his mouth open.

“What is it?” he said as he fought an invisible enemy in his sleep, “The knight will save you!”

Blaire grabbed him by the collar and shook him out of the couch. She was almost hysterical with worry. Every second that passed was hitting her like an eternity. The realization that her children were gone because of some stupid getaway was  dawning upon her  now. The pain of it was coming to her in waves and was  completely crumbling her.

Ivan got up and wiped the drool on his face with the back of his sleeve. He looked at his wife as if she had gone mad and saw traces of worry in her eyes. He sobered up and asked her to tell him what was wrong. Blaire was now choking on  her  words. She could not even speak properly now. She wanted to get a control of herself and look for her kids but the intensity of her grief was coming in the way of her acting rationally.  Ivan shook her to her senses and with some difficulty; she was able to tell her husband what had happened.

The color in his plump cheeks flushed as soon as he heard what the issue was. He ran outside the house to take a quick look to determine whether  or not his wife was being paranoid. The kids were really not outside the house. He was now starting to panic although his brain was starting to tell him that he would find them both, fast asleep in their bed. Dimitri’s room was completely empty; Ivan even checked the bathroom for any trace of him.

In Mary’s room, however, he found Mary sitting on the bed. Ivan leapt towards her and hugged her tightly. He was so glad that she was safe but before he could start celebrating, he wanted to find out about Dimitri.

“Where is he?” asked Ivan, trying to be gentle in his gra sp of her arms.

Much to his surprise, Mary started crying. She hugged him and explained everything to him.

“What is the matter?” asked Ivan in a worried tone. In his heart, he wanted to sprint out of the cabin and go looking for his son, but he knew that Mary knew more than she was letting on.

“Come on, now!” said Ivan, “You can tell me anything.”

“You won’t be mad?” asked Mary with tearful eyes.

“Of course, not!” said Ivan, “Tell me, where is your brother?”

“I don’t know!” she started crying again.

“Then why are you crying?” asked Ivan, “Surely, you must know something.”

“I cannot find Dimitri!” said Mary as she hugged her father, “I want to be close to him but he is nowhere around.”

“Why do you want to be close to him?” asked Ivan, hoping she would tell him everything.

“I want him by my side because I am scared.”

“You are scared?” asked Ivan, “Scared of what?”

“I am scared of the woman staring at us from behind these walls.”

“What the hell?!” exclaimed Ivan. 

“Is this the foolishness you wanted to talk to me about?  Right now?”

“But, I think the two things are connected…”

“Enough!” said Ivan, “I am going to find your brother now,  you have wasted enough time already.”

Ivan ran out of the house leaving a sobbing girl on the bed. Mary did not want to imagine that she was alone in the house, but she did not want to get out of her room either. The place was haunted; that was for sure, but was the surrounding area any safer? She covered her eyes with her hand as the noises started echoing the room again. She wanted to close her mind and kill herself so that she would stop hearing the noises around her, but whatever she did was not helping. Forced to look in the eyes of the woman who was now looking at her from outside the window, Mary stifled a scream.

This was not what she had come here for! She wanted to get up and run away from the house but her legs were frozen to the spot. Her heart was pounding so heavily that she feared it was audible to the creature outside the window. He green rotting hands were now writing something on the window through the moist and fog.

The noise of her finger screeching was so terrible and long-lasting that Mary thought she would pass out. In horror, she saw the message that was left to her on the window.

“We have your brother!” 

The four words were making her question her sanity more than anything else. Just as her father came running back and questioned about who had left the message on the window, Mary saw a hand emerging from underneath the bed; it was the same hand which had scribbled on the window seconds ago.

**This Story** **To Be Continued**


	5. Hanako of the Toilet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Elena Rossi  
> Dimitri Alexeev  
> Michelle Smith  
> Kim Hall  
> Blair Waldorf  
> Ivan Chernov

As the evening bell dings to signal the end of the school day, a group of friends give each other knowing looks before heading out of the classroom, meeting up in the halls and chatting as they head out of the school building. Elena Rossi, Dimitri Alexeev, Michelle Smith, Kim Hall, Blair Waldorf, and Ivan Chernov all settle outside Sumato Tokyo Highschool. They all relax on some picnic benches set out in the courtyard of the school, unwinding after a day of studying hard.

“This new school isn’t all that bad,” Blair remarks.

"Yeah, it's okay, if just a little bit boring," Elena remarks. Back at their old high school, things have been a bit more rambunctious and there was always drama or the like going on, but not much of that goes on at the new school. Honestly, she's a bit surprised everything is so orderly and calm, with students mostly focusing on studying and not being comfortable with disturbing the peace.

Of course, there is the occasional class clown or troublemaker, but they're much more reserved than the ones she is used to. When Dimitri and Elena had first started going out, in the very same week they started dating there was a fight in their high school cafeteria between some girls who were arguing over who stole whose boyfriend. In the end, it became obvious the boy was cheating on them both, but the fight was interesting nonetheless. Here? She couldn't even imagine such a thing happening. She sighs and Dimitri laces his fingers with hers, giving her a gentle squeeze as he smiles down at her.

“Isn’t it a nice change of pace though? Boring may be one way to describe it, but I think it’s sort of peaceful, y’know?”

“I guess,” Elena sighs, smiling at her boyfriend's attempts to comfort her.

“Well, thank you for the positive spin on things Dimitri, but I think this school is fucking lame,” Kim grumbles, rolling her eyes as she looks on at their fellow classmates happily heading home.

"I mean, I don't think I'm asking for too much. Where's the excitement here? It doesn't have to be a bunch of shitshows about cheating boyfriends and beating ass in a bathroom, but for God's sake, NOTHING goes on here. We come to school, learn, have a break period for like thirty minutes, go back to learning, go to lunch, eat, go back to learn, then we're dismissed once the day is over," a rather frustrated Kim complains. She tucks a piece of her blonde hair behind her ears as she stretches back, sighing exaggeratedly to express her disappointment in the school's drab atmosphere.

“Well, if you want it to be so exciting, you can start some drama,” Michelle replies, looking over at Kim expectantly. Kim huffs as she crosses her arms, pouting as she rejects Michelle’s words of advice.

“The best part about watching drama go down is that you don’t have to be part of it, Michelle.”

“Well, if you’re not gonna be the change you want to see, I guess you’re gonna have to get used to being bored,” Ivan replies, his voice low as he grows tired of Kim’s complaining.

"Oh, c'mon! You guys can't seriously tell me you're not bored here? Repeating the same cycle over and over again is mind-numbing," Kim says. Elena nods her head slightly in agreement, the others taking a moment to ponder her words now that she's not filling the air with her constant bitching. They all love the girl, but her complaining can get rather mind-numbing in its own right and certainly made it hard to take in her words, no matter how convincing they may be. The only one who can

really tolerate it is Elena since she's used to be around whiny kids after taking up a babysitting gig after moving to Japan.

Dimitri eventually comes to the conclusion that he's still not particularly bothered by how "boring" the school may be. Certainly, something exciting happening once in a while is definitely the spice of life that he appreciates, but he doesn't mind it not happening all the time. In fact, he can actually appreciate the quaint life of his high school quite well. He turns to face his friends, figuring they'll come to a similar confusion, but is shocked to see them still pondering the matter. He's even more shocked once they begin to speak up on their thoughts.

"I mean...I guess it wouldn't hurt if something a bit more exciting would happen," Michelle comments. Ivan chuckles as he replies with his gravelly voice, still a bit tired from the night before, the boy had stayed up to look up some scary stories and urban legends after finding a few cool links while browsing some sites.

"If you guys are so desperate for some fun, I've got a few ideas," the boy replies. The group looks at him curiously, though Dimitri feels a pit begin to form in his stomach, noticing the slightly sinister look Ivan has on his face.

“Well? Spill ‘em already!”

Kim's impatience and curiosity motivate Ivan to begin speaking, the boy detailing all the urban legend he learned about the night before. The list went on and on, including: Black-Eyed Children, Kuchisake-onna aka Slit-Mouthed Woman, Teke Teke (Kashima Reiko), Hanako-san of the Toilet (Toire no Hanako-san), The Babysitter and The Man Upstairs, and The Licked Hand. After detailing all of the information the boy had found on the urban legends, most of the friend group seems enthralled and deathly curious. Dimitri, on the other hand, is rather uncomfortable and gets a horrible feeling when hearing all of the legends. He grips his girlfriend's hand tighter and gives her a look to signify how much he doesn’t like where he can tell the conversation is going, but she merely gives him a confused look, whispering for him to relax, before then releasing his hand.

“Woah... All of those sound fucking freaky,” Michelle comments.

“I guess so, but they’re just a bunch of urban legends! Is this really how we’re gonna spice up our school lives?”

“I don’t see you suggesting anything better, Kim,” Elena replies.

“I mean...! I guess you’re right, but c’mon, how scary can an urban legend really be? It’s not exciting if it’s not all that convincing,” Kim says.

“If you’re not convinced, go ask one of the students. The details I gave were probably watered down compared to how it actually is at our school,” Ivan retorts, pointing at a random boy passing by them. Kim rolls her eyes, unsure of asking one of the “boring” students would help make the story much more exciting, but she complies, calling out to the boy in her well-practiced Japanese.

“Hey!”

The Japanese boy stops in his tracks, checking around to see if they were really talking to him. Kim nods and beckons him over, the boy surprisingly complying without much hassle.

“Uhm... yes? Did you guys need something?”

“We’re looking for some info on some urban legends of the school. You got any?”

The group chides Kim silently as soon as they notice the boy stiffen, figuring his sudden uncomfortable nature is likely due to her speaking to the boy so informally. Little do they know, the boy hardly even recognized Kim’s informality and only felt fear creep up into gut as he recalls an infamous urban legend at their school.

“I... do know something of it. I’m only telling you all about his to prevent you guys from hurting ourselves, even if meaning her name terrifies me, ” the boy says in Japanese, his voice shaky as he speaks. The group freezes at his tone of voice, his terror contagious as he retells the story of how Hanako-san of the Toilet came to be at their school.

“I don’t know how other places have come to spread rumors of Hanako-san, but I do know she originally came from this very school. Around 100 years ago, when this school was first built, there was a young girl, Hanako-san. She was bullied for being different by the local girls, them terrorizing her day in and day out until she couldn’t take it anymore. One day, a girl walked into the bathroom and opened up the third bathroom stall only to find Hanako-san sitting on the toilet, her wrists slit as the blood dripped all over the bathroom floor. The bathroom was closed down for a few years, but then opened back up after a while. Around that time, rumors started circulating all over the school about Hanako-san. People started going into the girl’s bathroom on the third floor just to try and summon Hanako-san. One by one, people started disappearing. Some chalk it up to pure coincidence, but...”

The boy bits his lip and grips harshly at his sides as he feels his terror reach its peak, his body shaking as he finishes speaking.

“She’s real... I know she’s real... She took my brother and his girlfriend and she’ll take you too! DON’T GO!”

The boy tightly grips at Dimitri’s shoulders, his nails almost piercing his flesh as the Japanese boy begins to shake Dimitri with crazed vigor. Dimitri can feel as his heart begins to thunder in his chest, the boy’s actions clearly being of someone teetering on the edge of insanity. Elena’s face pales a bit as she notices the freeway and almost deranged look in the boy’s eyes. Ivan stands up and pushes the Japanese boy off of Dimitri, the boy tumbling to the ground as he sobs quietly. He got up, casting one last sorrowful glance at the group before scurrying off, Ivan sitting back down once he’s sure the boy is gone. The group is silent, their minds reeling from the events that had just occurred.

"Geez... What a fucking creep," Kim finally says, her words breaking the silence.

“Well, you did ask for something interesting, Kim. You did get your wish,” Ivan teases as he tries to lighten the mood.

“Interesting, not fucking crazy! What the hell was his deal?”

“He probably just wanted to scare the new foreigner kids, what a jackass,” Michelle comments. “I say we show his ass up and summon Hanako-san,” Kim says, crossing her arms as she huffs.

“What?!”

Dimitri’s sudden interjection has all of the group’s eyes on him, them wondering what could have made him raise his voice. He clears his throat to speak, trying not to let his fear show.

“I mean... After all that, you guys don’t think we shouldn’t go?” “He was just exaggerating, Dimitri,” Kim replies.

“I mean, yeah, but...”

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Michelle replies comfortingly, "I don't see what the harm and seeing what the hubbub is all about. At worst, we waste our time. At best, we get to see a ghost and then make millions when we expose her ass to the internet. That's instant fame right there."

Elena and Dimitri are the only ones to not laugh, still shaken up by the Japanese boy’s words. Though Dimitri is a bit more worse for wear, Elena isn’t exactly keen on visiting the toilet herself.

"Seriously, guys? It's not that big a deal, but if you need an incentive, then if you go, I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow," Ivan says, fairly interested in seeing a ghost herself. Though not one to brag about it, he did enjoy a good horror movie or two in her free time, so this is right up her alley. Being a sucker for free food, Elena sighs as she slumps in her seat before straightening back up.

“Fine. I’ll be ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, just so you know,” Elena says. “That’s fine with me? What about you, Dimitri? You up for it?”

Despite every fiber of his being begging him to make his friends change their mind or at least to stay behind by himself, the boy becomes victim to a classic technique: Peer pressure. He sighs as he grumbles out a forced acceptance, the group smiling in excitement as they plan on how to sneak into the school at night for maximum spooky effect. They ultimately decide to just hide behind the school dumpster, most of the night guards not bothering to check there because of how gloomy and stinky it was.

Though they have to wait there for a long time and Kim complains of almost vomiting for the duration of their wait behind the stinky garbage, they eventually succeed in waiting out for the students and teachers to all head home. Once they check that the coast is clear and that no guards are in sight, they rush into the school building and quickly head to the third floor via the flight of stairs. Surprisingly, no guards are in the stairwell and the journey is fairly easy.

Once they finally arrive, Dimitri can feel all of his nerves shooting off at once, them screaming for his fight or flight mode to activate. However, he pushes against his mind to continue along the path with his friends. Elena notices Dimitri's soured mood and grabs his hand once more, leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek. Dimitri turns to look at her, then smiles when he sees her looking at him reassuringly.

“Alright, lovebirds, save that for later!”

Dimitri and Elena chuckle under their breath as they oblige Kim’s wish, them approaching the bathroom hand in hand. They pause when Ivan puts a hand out to stop them, the group looking at him questioningly.

“We have to go in one at a time. The legend works by knocking three times on the third stall and we can’t all do that at the same time. I’ll go first,” he replies, turning and heading into the bathroom. The group awaits their friend quietly. When he steps out of the bathroom looking just fine, Dimitri lets out an internal sigh of relief, thinking to himself how it all must just be a legend and nothing more.

“Did you see any ghost?”

Kim teases Ivan, the boy chuckling as he gently nudges her forward, the girl then going in to summon Hanako-san all the same. When she comes out, she's sighing, rolling her eyes as she inspects her nails.

“I didn’t see any ghosts. Lame.”

Michelle heads into the bathroom as well, quickly coming out and gesturing for Elena to go on ahead. Dimitri gives Elena’s hand one final squeeze before the girl heads into the bathroom to do the ritual. Once she comes out, Elena heaves a sigh in relief as she stares at Dimitri alongside the rest of the group, them all waiting for Dimitri to hurry up and head into the girl’s bathroom.

“Go on, chicken,” Kim says playfully. Dimitri shoots a glare at her before sighing and heading into the bathroom. For some reason, the air seems heavy and the room unnaturally dark. Dimitri swallows hard as he sets his hand on the third stall, flinching away when he feels an unnatural chill coming from the door. He feels a cold sweat trickle down his back, his eyes darting back and forth between the stall and the exit. He can't bring himself to do the ritual and sighs, heading out of the bathroom to inform his friends of him having to chicken out.

When he opens the bathroom door, his friends are looking at him curiously. The door shuts and he goes to stand next to Elena. As he begins to speak, a low groan is heard from the bathroom.

“Wha... What the fuck?!”

Dimitri feels his heart begins to race and he grabs Elena’s hand, pulling her close. She looks up at him fearfully, not liking the sound of that voice one bit. Ivan clears his throat and puffs out his chest, trying his best to not look scared.

“It just must have been the wind,” Michelle says.

“Yeah,” Ivan concurs.

“Why don’t we check?”

The group looks at Kim, the girl staring at them in confusion. She sighs, rolling her eyes as she begins to push open the bathroom door.

"C'mon, don't tell me you guys actually believe that was a fucking ghost-"

Before the girl can finish her sentence, a young girl opens the bathroom door. Her bob haircut and red dress perfectly match the legend's description of Hanako-san, but what really draws the attention of the group is her skin. A sickly pale white contrast with her blood-stained clothing and twisted bloody smile.

Kim’s mouth opens and shuts, the little girl giggling in response.

"I'm here," the girl says, her voice somehow echoing throughout the halls. Her voice is garbled, her words were muffled by her slit throat, as blood begins to gush out of her mouth and eyes. Kim lets out a scream and falls to the ground, Michelle moving to help her up and make a run for it. They are too late, as the girl harshly grips their ankles with a sickening crunch and drags them both into the bathroom, the door shutting in finality. Dimitri begins to shake, Elena clutching his shirt in terror as tears stream down her face. Ivan bangs on the door to open it, but to no avail.

Michelle and Kim's blood-curdling screams echo throughout the bathroom as Hanako's chuckles overtake the halls.

Ivan turns toward Dimitri and Elena, swallowing down the bile that built up in his throat. He takes one step and then another before breaking into a speedy run, Dimitri and Elena following suit.

Ivan is far ahead of the group as they keep up their intense pace, their hearts pounding against their rib cages and their fear thundering in their ears as they make haste to get away from a terrible fate. Elena and Dimitri are close together, with Blair lagging behind them a bit as the group tries their best to find a way to escape with their lives.

“Dimitri, I’m scared,” Elena sobs as she wipes her tears from her eyes, doing her best to not let her extreme emotions slowed her pace down too much.

"Elena, it'll be okay, I promise. You just need to keep running," Dimitri replies as he holds back his sobs. The thought of dying was not on his list of things to do tonight, he  knew  he shouldn't have come to this damned place, but now it was too late and all he could hear echoing throughout his mind is the sickening crunch of Kim and Michelle's bones and their blood-curdling screams.

'They.. they were a bunch of goofy dumbasses that lazed around for too long sometimes and sometimes they also liked to gossip, but goddammit they didn't deserve that! Fuck, fuck, they're dead and it's this stupid school's fault... We never should have come here!'

The group finally arrives at the front entrance of the school and Ivan pulls with all his might to try and open the door but to no avail. He sighs heavily and slams his fists against the door as he screams in frustration. The others join in as they begin banging on the door, screaming for help and for someone to come inside and save them.

“Please, please, someone  open the door, please!”

“We’re in here, we’re in here! Please help, she’s coming, she’s coming…! I don’t want to die, please!”

"Fuck," Blair mumbles as she slumps against the wall near the unmoving door and holds her head in her hands, tears streaming down her face as she mumbles her regrets and sorrows. 

"I'm sorry, Mom… I'm sorry, Dad… Fuck, I wanted to do so much more and just graduate school and maybe be a fashion designer or a model, anything for god's sake! Anything, but this, please… I don't want to die, please, I'm sorry! I should never have bothered Hanako-san and now it's all over," Blair sobs, her words muffled and as she rests her hands against her chest and then pulls her legs in close, now in the fetal position as she begs for her life.

“Blair, Blair, get up! Blair, please don’t cry,” Elena says, despite quaking in fear herself. She can hardly stand, but she doesn’t want to give up hope yet.

“What’s the point in banging on the door? It’s over, she’s got us trapped, I just know it,” Blair sobs.

"Shut up! SHUT UP! We are not trapped, okay?! We're gonna get out of here so stop your whining, you're just being dead weight right now! Keep acting like that and I'll fucking leave you behind," Ivan snarls out, the fear and delirium getting to his head as his cheeks redden and his pupils dilate, reddened veins prominent across the white's of his eyes.

“Ivan, you’re not helping!”

"Shut up, Elena! The longer we spend coddling her, the more time we waste and the sooner that thing gets closer to us!"

"Hey," Dimitri mutters lowly as he steps between Elena and Ivan, "Cool it off, okay? We're all just as freaked out as you are, getting pissy with everyone is gonna help us get out faster!"

"Cool it?! You want me to cool it?! Michelle and Kim are dead, do you understand that?! You saw what she did to them and what she'll do to us, so stop bitching at me and go back to kicking down the fucking door, you got that?!"

Just as Dimitri is about to reply with a quip of his own and likely a few expletive words, he freezes in place as he sees a familiar bloodied dress peak around the corner of the hall leading to the entrance door. She steps out from behind the corner and slowly hobbles toward the group, though now both of her ankles seem to be broken. Bone is sticking out of her crooked feet as she walks, the squelching noise from her flesh and the scraping of raw bone against the marble floor is enough to almost make Dimitri throw up.

“You! You sick bitch, you’re mocking Kim and Michelle, aren’t you?!”

Dimitri turns in shock toward the sound of the biting words, seeing Ivan nearly frothing at the mouth as he looks at Hanako with pure contempt and disgust. The enraged turns on his heel and slams his fist into the fire extinguisher near the entrance door. He grabs the extinguisher and roars as he flings it toward Hanako. He hits her directly in the head, a loud thud echoing across the room as she stands there, motionless despite her head having been caved in by the weight of the extinguisher.

Blood rushes from her new wound, trickling down her now distorted face. Ivan looks at her with confusion about how he made it, then horror when he realizes she's not dead and him hitting her probably just pissed her off. Blair swallows hard before getting to her feet and shuffling closer toward the opposite side of the hall, ready to escape. Dimitri and Elena do the same, Dimitri gently grasping Elena's hand and squeezing it gently to attempt to comfort the panicking girl. She glances at him and smiles weakly, though her smile quickly drops from her face when she hears Hanako's sickening walk begin anew. Ivan takes a step back, ready to run away with the group, but what he doesn't expect is that this time Hanako is much faster.

The girl leaps from the end of the hall toward Ivan, grasping his neck tightly. She squeezes down on his neck roughly, the pressure caused the man's eyes to bulge out of their sockets. He roughly claws and smacks at her hands, tears streaming down his face as his hoarse voice begs for her to not kill him.

“Please, plea-”

His voice is interrupted by the snap of his neck, his body immediately going limp as Hanako begins to chuckle under her breath and drag him back toward the bathroom. Blair wails as drool, tears, and snot streaming down her face all at once. She is a complete mess after watching three of her close friends die on one night.

“Blair, Blair, please, we have to go,” Elena says through muffled sobs, her legs shaking as she holds onto Dimitri for support.

“I can’t, I can’t,’ Blair replies as she weakly slumps against the floor once more.

Dimitri swallows hard as a single tear rolls down his cheek, the man unsure of how he will ever sleep again. Ivan, Michelle, Kim… they all meant something, they had so much to live for and it's all just… gone. After one stupid prank, their lives are no more. Their screams and the look on their blank faces will continue to haunt Dimitri forever and that's why he can't bear to lose another person. He balls his fist determinedly before picking Blair up, hoisting her on his back. Elena nods toward him, her eyes thankful as she gives Dimitri's hand another squeeze before the group then makes their way towards one of the school’s emergency exits. They bang against it for a few minutes, then moving onto the next, then the next exit until they arrive at the back door: the one they came in; the biggest mistake of their lives.

Dimitri sets Blair down next to the door, the girl still sobbing lightly and looking dazed, the will and strength from her previous self almost completely reduced to nothing. He and Elena begin banging and kicking on the door to get it to open but to no avail. Eventually, they tire out, painting and huffing after kicking and hitting the door for so long.

“Dimitri… it’s not gonna work, is it?”

“Elena… If we just-”

Elena presses a finger against Dimitri's lips and leans in to press a gentle kiss against his lips, tears streaming down her face and melting into the tragic kiss. Dimitri pulls her close and kisses her back just as gently, the two then pulling away and Elena resting her head against his chest as she sobs.

“I just want you to know… I love you,” Elena says, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I love you too," Dimitri says, his voice cracking a bit as he holds back tears. The two stay quiet for a moment before Blair then hobbles to her feet and gives them both a weak hug, her arms hardly squeezing them back. They all stand, weakly trying to open the door with its handle, but there's no heart in it anymore. The sickening crunch of Hanako echoes throughout the hall and the group knows that their time is near. Elena grabs Dimitri's hand and Blair does the same. They all inhale, then exhale shakily as they prepare themselves for their fate.

Hanako appears from around the corner, the exposed flesh of smashed head and broken ankle now turning a grotesque black color. She quickly lunges toward the three, not even giving them any time to process what's happening. Dimitri closes his eyes to prepare himself for his fate, but he's left confused when he doesn't immediately feel himself dying. He then feels a harsh tug on both of his arms as Blair and Eleana are being pulled by Hanako's bloodied hair, the evil girl cackling underneath her breath as Elena and Blair screams for Dimitri to hold on.

“Fuck, oh my god, fuck, I don’t want to die,” Blair mutters out.

“Dimitri, Dimitri, PLEASE! I don’t want to die alone,” Elena says as tears stream down her face, “Don’t leave me!”

"Blair! Elena, fuck, Elena, hold on!"

Their strength eventually gives out as Hanako crushes their legs with the strength of her hair, the girl letting out sickening screams as she successfully pulls them away from Dimitri and drags them back to the bathroom and crushes their spines.

Dimitri is left alone in the hallway, squeezing his hands over and over again as he realizes he wasn’t strong enough to hold onto them. He slams his fist against the ground and cries aloud.

“It should have been me....”

**Ending**  
The night after the incident, Dimitri was found passed out on the floor by a guard who patrols the school grounds. The police were called and a report was issued over the incident, but the locals knew all about Hanako and eventually the case was ruled a group suicide to cover things up. Dimitri was angry that they'd lie about such a thing at first, but then he realized the rest of Japan would likely dub the police crazy if they tried to convince them that a ghost killed a bunch of students in a bathroom.

Dimitri continued his daily routine of going to school and such, but he's never the same. The love of his life and all of his precious friends were taken right before his eyes. Such a life-altering experience can never be forgotten or truly recovered from, but the teen just took it one day at a time. He promises himself to finish high school: for Blair and Elena's sake. He could hardly bring himself to wake up in the morning, especially since he's begun having nightmares almost every night, but he knew the two girls dreamed of graduating high school and then getting college degrees. They'd always sort of enforced the school lifestyle onto the other group members, being a bit motherly about the whole thing, but Dimitri knew they always did it in everyone's best interests.  


Honestly, Dimitri didn't see why he'd drop out of this school anyway. He'd be just as miserable at home and, honestly, now that the school has gotten such bad publicity for the whole incident, they've barred off the third floor and have made sure to be extra understanding and kind toward him. He doubted he'd get such kindness anywhere else, so he figured he may as well stay here. Michelle and Kim's family's tried suing the school for how their negligence to properly bar off the third floor led to their daughters' deaths, but the case didn't seem to be working out for them. The costs were too much since they're from foreign countries and trying to sue an entire school is much harder than it sounds.

Another surprising thing is that, after the incident, the kid who warned them about Hanako befriend him in a way to support him. The two talk about the incident and how it affected them sometimes, which is a nice change of pace compared to how everyone else mostly avoids Dimitri.

As Dimitri finishes reminiscing on the past few months of his life since the incident, he sighs and promises to keep taking it one day at a time until he finally can hold that diploma and then his degree in is own two hands. He steps into the school building in front of him, ready for a new day, but always knowing he'll keep Elena Rossi, Michelle Smith, Kim Hall, Ivan Chernov, and Blair Waldorf in his heart.


	6. The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Caroline Forbes  
> Sara Lance  
> Man  
> Dimitri Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Anastasia Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Alexander Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Anastasia Junior Yahontov (Original Character for this Fanfic)

Seattle was a busy  city with cars  zooming here and there  and  people walking all about the place. It was packed with all kinds of  individuals : those who were friendly, those who  were kind, those who are rude and it was also home to a family. The Yahontov family. They had moved to Seattle (USA) from Saint Petersburg (Russia), with the family  consisting of the father Dimitri, the mother Anastasia, and their two children, Alexander and Anastasia Junior. Alexander was growing up fast and was already five years old, while Anastasia Junior was still a little baby. She was just a year old.

The family lived right in the heart of the city of Seattle. And while it was busy, the four of them enjoyed the new  environment , and of course, the fact that they were together in such a wonderful city. 

They were busy, though. At least Dimitri and Anastasia were. There  was lots to do in Seattle, and one Friday night they found themselves wanting to go out exploring. The couple figured the best decision was to leave the children at home, so the husband and wife organized two baby sitters to take care of Alexander and Anastasi Junior.

The blonde hair girls they had chosen were Sara Lance and Caroline Forbes. They both seemed like good, mature girls that could be trusted, so  Dimitri and Anastasia hired them instantly. They were offering a decent amount for just the weekend, with both girls earning a whopping five thousand dollars each.  Dimitri and Anastasia could afford to offer that much, though. They were multi-millionaires, and ten thousand dollars  for  a weekend was just measly pocket change to them.

“You guys are free to eat whatever you want,” Dimitri said. “Help yourself to the food and drinks in the  fridge, or order some pizza if you want. Up to you.” 

Sara and Caroline both sent each other a smile. The house they were in was huge. Dimitri and Anastasia were most definitely multi- millionaires . 

“Thanks, Mr Yahontov,” Caroline said. “We’ll see how the night goes.” 

“The kids are pretty tired today, so they won’t be too much trouble,” Anastasia explained as she filled her purse with her phone and wallet. She was getting ready to go out. “Anastasia Junior will fall asleep soon. They’re both in  the same  bed, so you don’t have to do much.”

“Sounds good,” Sara said with a nod.

“We better be off now. My number is on the fridge, so please give us a call if you need anything,” Anastasia explained as she put her handbag on her shoulder. “You guys can hang out in the living room and watch some movies.”

“You girls have a good night,” Dimitri said, his hand on his wife’s back. “See  ya later.” He guided her towards the front door before giving the girls a little wave.

“Bye!” they both said in  unison . 

As soon as the door shut, the girls turned to look at each other with a laugh.

“Can you believe they’re paying us five thousand dollars to look after their kids?” Sara asked with a giggle.

“Rich people are crazy,” Caroline muttered. “Let’s go watch a movie. I brought something scary.”

“Ooh, what?”

“You’ll see, you’ll see.” 

The girls walked into the living room where Caroline was able to dive through her backpack. She grabbed the DVD, pulling it out of her bag and showing it t o her friend.

“Ooh,  IT,” Sara said with a smile. “The original one. That’s my favourite. Let’s watch!” 

Caroline put the DVD on while the girls quickly got settled onto the couch. They sat together closely before Caroline reached over to the lamp that was sat by them. She switched it off, letting the living room turn dark and eerie. It added to the tension as the movie started up. The girls sat there with their eyes stuck on the screen, taking in the scenes of the scary, grinning clown. Every now and then a scene would make them jump, and they would cling onto each other as they laughed. They got into the movie the more it carried on, and soon they didn’t even laugh when the scary scenes popped up. They’d just stare at the screen, letting the intense feeling around them grow more and more. Even the room started to feel cold.

Then out of nowhere there was a ring. It was loud in the room, and the two girls jumped in their  seats.

“Jesus,” Caroline muttered with her hand on her chest.

“Oh my God, that scared me,” Sara said with a shocked laugh. “Pick it up.”

Caroline reached to her right and grabbed the phone, bringing it up to her ear. She assumed it would just be Dimitri or Anastasia calling up to see how things were going. “Hello?” she answered.

There was no response. All Caroline could really hear was breathing. Heavy breathing. She frowned and spoke up again.

“Hello? Is someone there?” she asked.

No response.

“Is that you Mr Lind?” Caroline wondered. “Mrs Lind?”

Still, the girl got no answer. She tried one more time.

“Hello?” 

Then there was a click. The line had gone dead.

“Who was that?” asked Sara.

“I  dunno ….” Caroline ended the call and placed the phone down on the table. “Maybe they called the wrong number. Let’s get back to the movie.”

Soon Caroline forgot all about the call and focused on the menacing, dark eyed clown on the screen. She couldn’t shake the thought that she felt like someone had been on the other end of the call just listening to her talk, but she shook her head at that and just watched the movie. And it had been okay for a while. Ten minutes had  went by, and Caroline had almost completely forgotten about the call, but then the phone rang again.

Once more it made her jump. 

“God, who’s calling now?” Sara said with a whine. 

“ Lemme  see,” Caroline said as she picked up the phone, placing it to her ear. “Hello?” 

Caroline could hear something that time, but she still heard no words… Just breathing. Heavy breathing. The kind of heavy breathing that made her shudder. It was like the person on the other end of the call was doing it on purpose – like they were trying to freak her out. Whoever it was just breathed heavier and heavier, and for a second it felt like they were right there in the room with her, just breathing into her ear and making her shudder.

“Hello? Who is this?” Caroline asked. She did her best to sound intimidating, but she was pretty sure it didn’t come across that way. “Hello?” 

And then there was a click. And then a  continuous beeping. They had hung up again. 

“What a loser,” Caroline said with a mutter. She ended the call, pressing her hand against the button roughly. 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s probably just some dumb kids pranking us,” shrugged Sara.

“I guess…” Caroline wasn’t so convinced. The breathing had been so loud, so scary. Why would kids joke around like that? But she let it go and dropped the phone into her lap, her eyes stuck on the screen as the movie whisked her away to another land for a little while.

But then the phone rang again, and Caroline wasn’t about to just sit there and let the caller piss her off anymore than they had already done.

“What? What do you want?” she snapped as she answered the phone.

“Have you check the children?” came a voice.

It was a man. And the voice was deep, with a cruel tone to it. 

“What?” gasped Caroline. 

“Have you checked the children?” he asked again.

“I… I…” 

The man hung up after that, and Caroline turned to look at Sara with wide eyes.

“He asked me if… He asked me if I had checked on the kids…”Caroline said with a little whimper.

“I bet it’s just some douche bag joking around. Don’t worry about it,” insisted Sara.

“But… But… He sounded so serious.”

“Look, I’ll go check on the kids if you’re that worried. I’m sure they’re fine. If you’re that  concerned , give the police a call. Maybe they can get the phone company to block the number or something,” Caroline said. She stood up, not looking all that worried as she made her way upstairs.

Caroline nodded. The fear wouldn’t leave her and she wondered if the kids were indeed okay, but then she remembered Sara’s words. It was probably some stupid prank. That was it. Sara called up the police, waiting impatiently for someone to put her through. When someone finally responded, she let them know what had been happening. That someone was calling her and pranking her.

Meanwhile, Caroline was upstairs in Alexander’s room. The kids were totally fine. They were sleeping peacefully, all cuddled up together in bed. Caroline rolled her eyes. She had wasted her time coming upstairs. The girl left the room, looking over her shoulder as she shut the door, and as soon as it clicked  shut, she felt something sharp piercing into her neck. She gasped, falling to the side where she hit a wall, grasping at her neck. She could feel blood pouring out of the wound that had been slashed into her skin. Looking up, Caroline tried to make out the sight of  the  man above her, but all she could see was darkness. 

The man leaned down, grabbing at Caroline’s neck and pinning her to the wall. He brought his arm up and quickly brought it back down, shoving it into Caroline’s neck  over and over again. She could barely make a sound. The pain was too much. All she could do was sit there with her eyes wide and her lips parted, letting the man ram the knife into her neck repeatedly. She was bleeding everywhere. The liquid coated her neck and shirt, pooling all over her body and making her wince.

Her eyes grew heavy as the man rose the knife and thrusted it into Caroline‘s chest. She whimpered, her hands reaching up to grab at the knife, but it was all too much for her. It was too late for the girl as she died on the hallway floor.

“Caroline?” Sara whispered. 

Her friend had been gone for over five minutes, and she was quickly growing suspicious. The police told her they’d try and trace the number, but in that moment, she needed more than that. She creeped along the stairs further, getting higher and higher until she got to the top floor, making her way to Alexander’s room.

And then Sara saw it.

Her friend Caroline was lying on the floor with blood everywhere.  On her neck. Her body. Her chest. The wall. It had been splattered across the hallway, creating a terrifying mess. Sara looked at her friend’s face and took in the sight of her eyes: they were open. Wide open. But there was no life behind them. The girl was dead, and she was looking ahead of her even though there was nothing left to see. It was a lifeless look. One that made Sara scream out loud. She screamed so loud that her throat started to hurt.

Sara almost fell to the floor, so ready to just sit there and cry after stumbling upon her dead friend, but she knew she had to run. Whoever had killed Caroline could very easily do the same to her. With her legs shaking and with tears in her eyes, Sara moved. She ran, darting out of the hallway entrance and bolting down the stairs. The movie continued to play in the background as she moved past the living room and towards the front door. With her arms outreached, she grabbed at the handle, pulling it over and over again, but it wouldn’t budge at all. It was stuck, and no matter how many times Sara yanked at it, it just wouldn’t move.

“Dammit!” Sara shouted.

There was no point  in pulling at the door. It wouldn’t move, and Sara was wasting precious time. She slammed her fist against the wood and took off running, moving as fast as she could. Her eyes were open, looking  for  any sign of a person with the knife that killed her friend. The image just made Sara run faster. 

She dove down the hallways until she came to a door that she knew would give her  some kind of freedom. The garage was behind that door. The  Linds had  showed it to her earlier. Sara threw open the door, running inside and shutting it behind her. She wanted some distance between her and the killer. A lot of distance. 

She searched for the garage door controller, grabbing it with her sweaty hands and pressing the big, green open. She waited for the clanking noise to hit her ears , but it didn’t happen. She pressed the button again, but it still wouldn’t move. She hit it one last time with a grunt, and the door slowly began to raise.

Sara ran towards the garage, grunting when she saw that it only rose up a little bit. But she could climb under it. That was her only choice. That was the only way to escape. Sara got down on her stomach, pressing herself flat against the floor. She began to crawl then, letting go of the controller as she tried to slide her way under the heavy door. It was so tight, though. It was so hard to move under the door, but she pushed and pushed – until she felt something pressing into her. And then she heard a noise. 

The garage door was going down. It was going down with her stuck right under it. The only part of her body that she had managed to get out was  her  head, and she could feel the door digging right into her neck. She kicked her legs out, her feet slamming against the floor, desperate and terrified and lost.

“Please!” she begged. “Please, don’t! Let me go! Please!”

The door lowered more and more, with the heavy metal just jabbing into her neck. It suddenly became harder to breathe, and Sara  was very quickly gasping. She needed to breathe. She needed air. But all she could do was choke as the garage door lowered right into her skin, stabbing into her neck and causing her limbs to flail out. The pain was harrowing, and Sara could feel the muscles in her neck becoming weaker and weaker.

There was a snap, and then a whirring sound, and then  Sara’s whole body started to shake. It vibrated under the garage door as a searing pain shot up and down her body. Then there was the ache in her neck. It was piercing, and as Sara shook from the  electricity of the door hitting her, she realised that she couldn’t move her legs on her own. The only reason they were moving was because the  electricity had taken over her body, making her jiggle under the garage door. She shook and shook, her eyes rolling back  and her head banging against the cement harshly.

The girl hit it one more time before the electricity took over her body, and then there was nothing left in her  at all. No light, no life. She was dead.

After the call from the panicked girl, the 911 Operator had grown suspicious. He knew some people liked to prank others, but he just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. So, the police made their way to the Lind Family's Mansion, looking around the place without much suspicion. It sounded like a typical prank call to them, but as the officers moved to the side of the house and eyed the garage, they saw something that made them gasp.

“Oh my God,” the officer cried out. “It’s a girl!” 

The officers ran closer to the garage and their eyes widened when they saw the head of Sara there. Her eyes were shut, and the garage door had been slammed right down onto her neck. The officers knew there was  no way she was alive.

“You got a girl down,” the cop said into his radio. “Send backup. Send an ambulance. We’re going inside.” 

The men left the girl there and dove into the house, kicking the door open as they gripped their guns tight. They looked around the kitchen, then the living room, and then they made their way  upstairs slowly. They creeped up the stairs and gagged when they saw the girl covered in blood. There Caroline sat, with her eyes wide open and her neck slashed and her lifeless body laying against the wall.

“Jesus Christ,” muttered an officer. “What the hell happened here?”

The cops cleared the rest of the house. They found the children fast asleep in the bed. They had slept through the whole thing. The cops brought them outside to the  paramedics  who had shown up. The children appeared to be totally fine.

The police searched the house, and the only real evidence they could find were the tapes on the living room table. They put them into the VHS player and gasped at what they saw. They had clear vision of the girls being killed. They could see Caroline getting stabbed and the garage door falling right onto  Sara’s neck.

There was a man in both videos. But they couldn’t see his face.

** Ending **

Months and months passed. The investigation into the deaths of Caroline Forbes and Sara Lance began, but there were no answers. The man hadn’t left any bit of evidence behind. All he had given the cops were the videos. The videos that showed the girls crying out and pleading for their lives. 

The murders were left unsolved, and the families of the girls were left without their daughters. No one knew who had hurt them and killed them and made them scream in terror. No one except the man who was in the house with them.


	7. Haunted Home of H H Holmes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Ghost of Serial Murderer H H Holmes aka Henry Howard Holmes  
> Scott Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Nina Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Ivan Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Dimitri Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Tiffany Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Blair Turnball (Original Character for this Fanfic)

“Wow, wow. Honey!” Scott  Turnball called from the kitchen of his home. He looked up for a split second before looking back down at the piece of paper in his hands. “Nina!”

He grinned down at the newspaper, shaking his head in disbelief. On the gray colored page was a list of homes for sale. While most were in the hundred thousand range, one  particular house was far cheaper. It was so cheap that it was the price of a small, used car. As Scott continued to look at the number 5340, he felt his hopes rising.

“Jesus, Scott. What’s going on? I’m sure the whole neighborhood can hear you.” Nina walked into the kitchen. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her mouth set in a confused pout. She walked further in and stood next to her husband. When he continued to look at the newspaper, she pressed her hands to her hips and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, Scott? You call me all the way in here to say nothing?”

Scott laughed incredulously and shook his head. “Sorry, honey. Look!” He shoved the newspaper in her face, causing her to yank her head back quickly.

“What?” She grabbed the paper from him and began reading. “What? I don’t know what you want me to look at. There are a lot of tiny words on this damn thing. What is it?”

“Look at the houses for sale section. Look at every single one,” Scott commanded excitedly.

Nina sighed and let her eyes trail to the houses for sale section. “These are all too out of our price range. You know we’re moving because…”

Nina trailed off as she finally caught the price of one  particular home . She gasped once the number registered in her mind. 5340 to buy the luxurious, three-story home. As she continued to look at the price, she couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing.

“Is this real? Not a gag prank or whatever?” She glanced over at her husband. “Why is it so cheap? For this? There’s no way!”

Scott shook his head and hobbled over to hug his wife. “Who cares! We have something good finally. Let’s call the real estate agent and buy this baby! This is our big break.”

Nina pursed her lips before she broke out into a smile. Nodded, she wrapped her arms around her husband. A happy laugh left her as she jumped up and down in his arms. They were struggling bad since Scott had lost his job. He found it extremely hard to find a new job so now the family were in minor debt and could no longer afford their house. For weeks now, they’ve been looking for a new home that they’d be able to afford.  With that being said, this was in fact their lucky break.  This was their chance to start over and build up their lives once again. They’d be able to sell their home, get the money for that, then purchase this uber cheap house. Not only that, but they would most definitely have enough money left over until Scott finds a new job. This was perfect.

It’s not until a few weeks later that the family is ready to move into their new home. After Scott had called the real estate agent, they got set up to sell their home. That, in itself, took about two weeks to get a buyer and to have everything processed. In the meantime, the family held a garage sale to sell off  all of their large items. The real estate agent told them that the house was already furnished with good quality items. The  Turnballs’s thought this was a great idea.

To most, a furnished house is bad luck. Many believe that furnished homes hold nothing but bad luck or evil, but not the  Turnball’s. They aren’t superstitious nor do they feed into the horror genre fad. To them, horror movies did nothing but spread lies or do nothing but give nightmares. It’s why they strictly keep away from horror movies, horror stories, or anything horror in general. And that is exactly why they didn’t mind the house already having furniture.

They also chose not to question why the house is so cheap. They took the word of the real estate agent that the owners weren’t looking for a lot. It made the  Turnball’s think whoever was selling the house is nice. They also chose not to question the old age of the house since it’s been around since the 1800’s. The family simply didn’t care. They were just ready to move out of their old home and move into the new home.

“Ready?” Scott asked his family as he placed the last suitcase into their car to drive to the airport. They rented a small moving truck that held their beds and the other miscellaneous items they wanted to keep like a nightstand, coffee table, or tv. It would arrive at a place to ship their large items. “The faster we get going, the sooner we’ll arrive there.”

“Dad,” Tiffany, their oldest daughter, shook her head. “It’s the sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll get there. Or the faster we leave, the faster we’ll get there,” she pointed out, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. She stomped her way to the car and got in, slamming the car door behind her.

Scott sighed and shook his head. He looked toward his other children, Dimitri, Ivan, and Blair. They each shrugged and made their way to the car. They had a three-row truck, so they all fit comfortably.  They’d leave I at the airport and have it shipped by a close family friend.  Nina  rubbed her  husband’s back and pressed her cheek to his arm. They were mad at her too, so she knew how hurtful their cold shoulder treatment was.

“Come on, let’s get going.” Nina kissed Scott’s cheek before  getting into the truck and settling into the passenger’s seat. Scott sighed and followed.

Soon, they were all mumbling their last  goodbyes to the home they’ve always lived in. Then they were on the road and driving.  They were moving a whole country away to  the USA. They’d be living in Englewood, Chicago from now on.

“Why do we even have to move?” Ivan finally broke the silence of the car. The only sound was the radio that played lowly in the car. “Why do we have to uproot our lives just because dad can’t find a job?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Dimitri agreed, frowning.

At sixteen, Dimitri and Ivan were nothing but angsty. The two were identical twins who liked to play pranks on those around them, especially their older and younger sisters. They both had blonde hair from their mother and brown eyes from their father. They were naturally mischievous and always have been.

“Hey, watch your mouth, young man.” Nina turned to give her sons a stern look. “It’s for the best that we move.  And you lot are all young, okay? Your lives aren’t over, they’ve not even started yet. We’re moving into a nice, big house with nice, big rooms. Much larger than your old rooms, okay? So, please? Please stop acting like this.”

“Why didn’t you get a job?” Tiffany asked, addressing her mother. “I mean, dad can’t be the only break maker of the family.”

“Tiffany,” Scott said sternly. “Why didn’t you get a job? You are twenty and it’s about time you learn some responsibility. Why should your mother and I continue to support you when you’re an adult?”

That effectively shut all the kids up. Tiffany, at twenty, was out of high school, but chose not to attend college. She said she was taking time off, but it had already been two years and it wasn’t looking like she was going to ever attend.  With that being said, she also still acted like a child.  Their move being a prime example.

“Well,” Blair smiled as she cleared her throat. Her brown eyes were  wide, and her blonde hair was braided back. “I’m excited for a bigger room. Now I can have dance parties!”

Blair was the youngest at twelve and she was a natural sweetheart. She wasn’t a rule breaker like her brothers, and she wasn’t bratty like her older sister. But to her siblings, she was nothing but annoying. 

“Oh, you’ll love it, Blair!” Nina smiled at her youngest daughter and child. “It’s way bigger than your laugh room. You can have all the dance parties in the world.”

Blair sat back happily. Each family member had different thoughts going through their heads as the car continued to move. Scott was just worried about being able to find a job in Englewood. Their money from the house sale wouldn’t last forever. With a family as big as theirs, it would be gone way before they know it. If he couldn’t find a job, they’d be out of luck.

Nina was stewing over her  daughter’s words. Tiffany may have been right about Scott not being able to be the only supporter in the family. It might be best for Nina to get a job to help. She did go to school and she does have a degree, so it should be easy for her to  actually find some place to work. 

Tiffany herself was still angry at her parents. She kept thinking of the life she had built up in her hometown. Now she’d have to start over and build her life once again. Not only that, but she felt stupid. She was twenty but jobless and the only thing she has to her name is her high school diploma. That would honestly get her nowhere.

Dimitri and Ivan were both thinking the same thing. They were ready for their next prank. Yes, they were sad to go, but they didn’t really think it was that big of a deal.  As long as they could keep being teenagers, they were happy.

Finally, Blair was thinking about her new room. She thought of the possible layout and where she would put everything. She thought about her room the rest of the way to the  airport. It wasn’t long before they arrived in Luxembourg and boarded their plane to Chicago.

When the family finally arrived to the USA, they shuffled into a taxi. The ride was silent as the driver said nothing too them as he drove them to Henry Howard Holmes’s Home. Once at the new house, they were all starstruck at the size of the home. It was huge and a lot bigger than they expected. All the kids bounded out of the car, forgetting that they’re meant to be upset. Now, they were just excited to see the house and see their rooms. Nina got out next and walked to the door. She unlocked it and let the kids rush past her inside. With a small laugh, she turned to her husband and began unloading the car with him. Their largeitems were already there in a moving truck and they too began unloading the moving truck.

When all of that was done, the family unpacked their suitcases into their new home. Since the place was furnished, it didn’t take them long. All they had to set up was their beds and unpack their individual items. As they put their things away, they didn’t know whose house they moved into. They didn’t know their new home was Serial Murderer Dr Henry Howard Holmes’s  house.

A week later, the family was settled. Scott was out looking for a job as was Tiffany. Nina was home with her three other kids. The twins were asleep after a long night of prank planning, but Blair was having one of her dance parties in her room.

She danced around with a stuffed animal, a teddy bear, in her arms. Singing along to the song, she continued to spin and spin, making herself dizzy. Doing a finally circle, she pulled herself into an abrupt stop as she saw something in the corner of her eye. Blair, being off balance, struggled to look properly where she thought she saw a person. She finally settled and looked around herself. 

“Not funny!” she said aloud, thinking it was one of her brothers trying to scare her. “Stop interrupting my dance party!”

Blair started dancing again, but this time she heard a slam. Turning quickly, her open door was now closed . Pouting, she began to rub her arms as she walked over to her bed. She settled down and got under her covers.

“Mean,” she mumbled, still believing her brothers to be pranking her.

Meanwhile, the twins were still sleeping in their rooms. Dimitri twisted and turned in his queen-sized bed as he was plagued with a nightmare. He was in a hotel that was rigged with endless traps. Each time he escaped one, he wounded up in another. It was a tortuous, endless cycle that resulted in nothing but him being trapped somewhere. The worst part was that someone was continuously laughing evilly. It echoed while Dimitri continued to be trapped. He also couldn’t seem to wake up, no matter how hard he tried to do so, it never worked. That’s when the trap he was in started closing in on him. It squeezed at his restrained wrists and ankles.  Then the room started closing in on him, getting smaller and smaller, constricting his breathable air more and more.

This continued until he felt himself being shaken awake. Dimitri’s brown eyes popped open as he woke up. He gasped in a large breath before looking around for the source of the shake. No one was in his room. His room was a lot colder now and he pulled his blanket up his arms. Frowning, he looked around again and shivered. What shook him awake?

His door opened, making him jump and look over. His brother stood in the doorway, rubbing his arms awkwardly. “Had a nightmare, freaked me out pretty bad.”

Dimitri slowly nodded. “Yeah, me too. Let’s uh…let’s hang out and watch tv or something. But no sleeping for now. That dream was just too freaky.” 

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Ivan nodded, agreeing with his twin. They settled into a comfortable time of them playing video games in Dimitri’s room.

While they did that, Blair made her way downstairs where Nina was making sandwiches for lunch. The twelve-year-old could smell the richness of the peanut butter and the sweetness of the jelly. She smiled as she sat on a barstool and watched her mom finish up.

“Oh, hi, Blair. Done with your dance party?’  She turned to her daughter and placed a plate in front of her.

“ Mhm .” Blair nodded as she took a bit of her sandwich. She began chewing but felt a wiggling in her mouth. Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked down at her sandwich to see it filled with maggots. A scream left her as she dropped the sandwich and spit the  chewed up piece out of her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” When Nina turned back to her daughter, Blair was scared to see maggots falling from her mouth as she ate a sandwich herself. “What is it?”

Blair closed her eyes. When she opened them, there were no more maggots. She stared at her mom for a long time as Nina looked on in concern. Then she watched her sandwich, waiting for little worms to slither out. As nothing happened, her heart rate  slowed and she calmed down. Slowly, she picked up her sandwich and began eating again.

“Nothing, I’m so sorry. I thought I saw something in my sandwich. I must be really tired because it’s nothing.” Blair slowly chewed, keeping her eyes on her food to make sure there was still nothing. Despite her stomach aching now, she continued to eat.

“Are you feeling sick?” Nina asked as she walked over and felt her daughter’s forehead. Feeling a normal temperature, she shook her head. “You feel fine. Listen, drink some water then get some sleep. You may be dehydrated or like you said, just tired.”

“Thanks, mommy.” Blair smiled as she finished up her sandwich. She slid off the stood and grabbed some water before heading to her room. “Can you tell me when dad and Tiffany get back? I want to  watch a movie tonight with everyone. Is that okay?”

Nina nodded and smiled once again. “Yeah, sweetheart. You go up and I’ll let you know when they’re here. Oh! Pick a movie.”

“Yes!” Blair squealed as she ran up the stairs.

Nina shook her head and  turne away. As she did, she heard mumbled from the side of her. Furrowing her eyebrow, she looked towards the kitchen entrance. Raising an eyebrow, she,  like Blair, thought it was her sons trying to trick her or scare her. Deciding not to bite into the plan, she turned back to her sandwich and finished it up. But she heard the talking get louder.

“You’re going to die soon.” She heard. Nina turned and crossed her arms. Jokes like that were not welcome in the  Turnball home and her kids knew that. She walked out and heard stomping, assuming the boys were going up the stairs.

“Unacceptable!” she yelled as she made her way up. She went to Ivan’s room first but saw no one. She then went to Dimitri’s room where the boys were still playing their games. “Don’t you dare ever make jokes like that again.”

The boys looked over to their mom in complete and utter confusion. “What?” Dimitri finally asked. 

“Do not ever make joke s about death again, do you hear me?” Nina asked sternly, her hands on her hips.

“Mom, we haven’t even made any jokes today. We’ve been here the whole time, honest. Both of us had nightmares and just decided to play some video games,” Ivan told her. He motioned to the game that was now paused. “Honest, we haven’t been down all day.”

Nina narrowed her eyes, but she could see they were being honest. The boys usually fessed up to their tricks because they were proud of them.  So if they were denying all of this, they were telling the truth. Now she had to talk to her youngest to see if it was her who said those horrible words.

“Sorry for accusing you of this. There are sandwiches downstairs in the kitchen, okay? And next time you have a nightmare, come find me and I’ll make you guys some tea to soothe you.” 

“Yeah, sounds good.” Dimitri nodded  his head and  Nina walked out. She decided not to confront her youngest daughter, knowing it wasn’t her voice she heard. She wasn’t even sure if she heard her son’s voices.

Whose voice did she hear then?

Soon a month passes by. Each member of the  Turnball family has been plagued by nightmares. All of them get graphic images of them dying or they’re trapped in a place that has an endless amount of booby traps. To add to that, they’ve each been seeing and hearing unexplainable Things. Some with see a person walking around, bugs in their food, or objects moving on their own. They also tend to hear claims of their soon to be deaths. 

For the first two weeks, the family hid these things from each other. They didn’t want to appear crazy so all they said was they had nightmares which each member found off. No details were shared. After one night of them all having the same dream, they finally came clean to each other. They shared all the things they’ve been dreaming,  every last gory detail of their dreams. Then they shared all the things they’ve been seeing, emphasizing the man they continue to see. They then told each other about how they would constantly hear about how they’ll die.

“You know what! I’m going online.” Tiffany shook her head and typed up their address in her search browser. She found as the search results came up with  ‘Serial Murderer Dr. Henry Howard Holmes’s Home. ’

“Well?” Scott spoke from his seat on the couch. “What does it say?”

“We…” Tiffany shook her head, her eyes wide. “Did you guys know that we’re living in a serial killer's house? Please tell me you researched this place before buying it.”

Nina and Scott looked at each other sheepishly. They began to feel guilty for not doing proper research on the place. Desperate times do often call for desperate measures sometimes. For the  Turnballs, it was an extremely desperate time. Their desperate measure was buying a home that was just over five thousand dollars, no questions asked. But they should’ve asked more questions and they should have done proper research. They trusted the real estate agent blindly, like fools.

“We need to leave.” Scott stood up and his statement was answer enough. The kids and Nina followed his lead and they all ran to the front door. 

Upon trying the door, they found it to be locked. Looking at each other in obvious fear and confusion, they tried again. This time Scott’s hands got burned as the door handle heated up. He pulled his hand away with a loud and painful hiss. He turned to his family with a frown. He cradled his hand to his chest and looked around.

“Try the windows. Now!” he shouted and they all rushed off to try. Everything was locked and they couldn’t unlock them. They even tried the back door, but to no avail. They were trapped in the house with no way out.

“It’s okay!” Dimitri breathed out. “We just have to-”

He was cut off as his body lifted into the air. Ghost of Henry Howard Holmes was choking him as it lifted him up. The family screamed out and reached up to try to pull him down, but Ghost of Henry Howard Holmes was holding him up was unbelievably strong. Soon, Dimitri was dead.

This pattern repeated as they ran around and tried to fight their ways out. Each time they threw something at a window to break it, it stopped mid throw and rushed back to them. They continuously had to duck out of the way. That’s when Tiffany threw a chair. It stopped and headed back towards her quickly.  She wasn’t fast enough to duck as it slammed into her, shattering against her soft flesh. Large splinters imbedded into her skin, killing her instantly. Tiffany fell, her blood spilling out on the floor.

“No!” Nina yelled as she bent over her oldest child. “Scott, do something! We’ve lost Dimitri and Tiffany. Get us out of here!”

But there was nothing they could do. Soon, both Blair and Ivan were dead, their body laid on the floor, motionless. The parents of the children cried relentlessly at the loss of their children until they had nothing else to do.

“I’m so sorry,” Scott cried, a gun in his hand. He held it to his mouth and pulled the trigger.

The only one of the family  left was Nina. She sniffed; her face blank as she pried the gun from Scott’s hands. Shaking her head, she held the gun to her head and pulled the trigger without an ounce of hesitation. The  Turnball family was now dead. The doors and the windows finally unlocked themselves and the house settled into silence.

** Ending **

“The agent told them nothing?” an officer asked his co-worker as they stared at the horrific scene. “Why would they keep that a secret?”

The other officer shrugged as he stepped over a blood spot. “Nope! Kept the whole thing a secret. Tragic, honestly. They’d still be alive…”

Because of the deaths of the  Turnballs, it was decided that the USA would sign a new law. This whole law would enforce real estate agents to tell families that the house is haunted by ghosts. It would be illegal to keep it a secret, so now no one would have to die.


	8. Sleepy Hallow and Headless Horseman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters  
> Headless Horseman  
> Chuck (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Blair (Original Character for this Fanfic)  
> Lena Luthor (SuperGirl TVShow)  
> Jess aka Jessica (SuperGirl TVShow)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Note: This version of Lena Luthor isn't skeptic of the supernatural and isn't Rich since Luthor Family lost everything due to Lex Luthor, Lena is a normal person.

It is that time of the year when schools are on vacation, students are on holiday and workers are on break. What more could anybody ask for than to enjoy the season? A lot of people make use of this time as a moment to bond with families and friends while some just make the moments memorable by going on a vacation. This is the situation of four friends; Lena Luthor, Jessica, Chuck, and Blair who after making a good grade from their past school session decided to embark on a journey for their holiday.

The four friends have been friends since childhood, this also reflected on their parents too as they had no choice but to befriend each other too. There is free will for any of the kids to spend the night in each other’s homes. Their friendship grew stronger each passing year and they all made their way to the same college. At this time, Blair and Chuck were already dating.

Chuck thought about the idea of traveling to a far distance and experience more of Mother Nature. He called his friends and sought their opinions.

“What would you guys say if an opportunity to travel out for vacation presents itself?” Chuck started by teasing his friends.

Lena busted into a laugh, “and who is presenting such a glorious offer? You?” she continued with her laugh.

“That didn’t answer my question,” Chuck felt insulted by Lena’s action.

“Left to me, that would be a great opportunity especially if we are to choose any country of our choice,” Jessica said. “I will gladly choose Jamaica, I won’t trade the opportunity of seeing the Rose hall for anything in the world.”

“You are always fond of mystical places,” said Lena. “You really believe the story of the white witch of Rose hall, really?”

Blair quickly intervened in their discussion to avoid arguments. “Babe, why are you asking us this? Do you have an opportunity to fly us out?”

“Actually, I can’t afford that and none of us here can. Even if we join our students’ loan together, it wouldn’t fly us to the next street,” Chuck said and all the friends busted out laughing.

“So what’s the idea all about?” Blair asked again.

“Since we can’t fly out, if we all agree, we can travel to a nearby city and camp there. It will be fun, I’m certain about that.”

“Your idea is nice,” Lena agreed. “Where do you have in mind?”

“That’s’ the reason why I called everybody here. We can all agree on a city,” Chuck said.

It took almost two minutes of silence from the friends as they all rack their brains before Jessica voiced out. “Let’s go to New York.”

“Where in New York?” asked Blair.

“Westchester County,” Jessica answered.

“I know what you are trying to do,” Lena pointed her fingers at Jessica. “You don’t need to say it louder before I know you are trying to lead us to sleepy hollow.”

“I thought you don’t believe in mysticism, why are you sounding afraid?” asked Jessica.

“I’m not afraid. I just think we should go to a city instead of camping in a village,” Lena said.

“I have heard stories about the village and the urban legend especially the headless horseman. It will be fun to check the place out,” Blair sided with Jessica.

“I heard the place is haunted. Will going there be a good idea?” asked Chuck.

“Let’s vote and come to a conclusion,” Blair suggested. “Do we all agree to this?”

All other friends nodded their heads affirmatively. Jessica who brought the idea of going to New York raised her hand up in support of the journey. Sitting beside her is Blair who also raised her hand up in support of Jessica’s idea. Two people out of four already voted in support. Chuck and Lena were yet to vote and a support vote from any of them would be the deciding factor.

Lena blatantly went against the idea by voicing out. All eyes on Chuck to be the deciding factor in their vote. It was either going to be a draw or a win. Chuck wasn’t convenient with the idea of going to a place haunted by unseen figures, but he wouldn’t want to go against his girlfriend’s wish. He had no choice but to join the winning team. Chuck raised his hand up in support of the journey.

“Yes, we won,” Blair rushed to Chuck and kissed him before sitting on his lap. “Thank you, babe.”

“I knew a weakling will always side with his woman,” Lena sounded defeated.

“No hard feeling, lady,” Chuck said sarcastically.

“Are you coming with us?” Jessica asked Lena.

“You guys didn’t leave me with any choice,” Lena answered.

They all decided to embark on the journey to Westchester County the following week. Convincing their parents wouldn’t be a huge task as the parents knew the four friends could watch each other’s back wherever they are.

As soon as the cock crowed in the early morning of Thursday, the four friends set out on their journey. Everybody packed their luggage to the brim like a newly wedded wife moving to her husband’s house. Only Lena who was indifferent about the journey carried a small box. The four friends chattered a cab to the state of New York from Baltimore, Maryland. With the help of Google map and a little direction from the locals, the friends arrived at Westchester County safely. They couldn’t get to sleepy hollow that day because it’s already late in the night. The cab dropped them in front of the already booked Airbnb apartment at Mount Pleasant before zooming off.

July 4, 2010, saw the four friends wake up in the morning, feeling energized and ready to pay a visit to the sleepy hollow village. They all wore a boot and a hoodie before setting out on the journey. Immediately they got to the village, Jessica drafted a plan about places to visit. Part of the plan entails visiting Philipsburg manor house. They also planned to visit the Old Dutch Church of sleepy hollow. The last place agreed upon was the famous sleepy hollow cemetery where the infamous specter, the headless horseman was buried.

A little play, a little prank in between their journeys made the day more beautiful. By the time they were through from the Old Dutch Church, it’s nearing late time. Lena suggested they go back to the Airbnb apartment and come back the following day for the headless horseman cemetery.

“The main reason why we embarked on this journey is to see if the urban legend is true. Which way are we to confirm that if not to visit the cemetery?” Jessica wasn’t ready to turn back at that stage.

“Nobody is disclaiming the fact that a visit to the sleepy hollow cemetery is a must,” Lena reiterated. “All I’m saying is that a haunted place as claimed by history shouldn’t be visited at night.”

At this time, Chuck was having cold feet. Hearing of a haunted place from afar seemed different with having the opportunity of facing it. Blair supported Jessica and insisted they visit the place.

“The time we have used in debating this would have been used in visiting and getting out of the place,” Blair said. “There is no harm if we experience the place at night and in the day.”

“Are you saying we should go there now and still go back tomorrow morning?” Chuck asked his girlfriend.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, babe. What do you think?” Blair asked Chuck.

“Maybe we should settle for a vote,” Chuck suggested.

Lena busted out laughing loud that tears almost dropped from her eyes. “Who doesn’t know you would support your girlfriend?”

“Majority has it then,” Jessica concluded and they all journeyed down to the sleepy hollow cemetery. A sense of insecurity could be felt on the four friends including Jessica who brought the idea but she managed to hide it so as not to be termed a weakling. The temperature dropped immediately they steeped their foot on the non-profit, non-sectarian burying ground of about 90 acres. By this time, it’s already getting late. The only thing on the mind of Lena was to get out of the place in no time.

The wind whistled as if communicating with the four friends. Trees shed their leaves on the plain ground and the dried leaves on the ground heeded to nature’s call by blowing away. A feeling of having another visitor with them clouded their minds and goosebumps grew on their skin.

They needed nobody to tell them that it’s time to leave. Upon the hoods the four friends wore, they were all shivering from cold and anxiety. They came in through one way and wouldn’t mind exiting through another way. Only a bridge stands between the four friends and an exit way that leads to the adjacent of the cemetery which has the Old Dutch church situated.

They all journeyed towards the bridge when they heard a cry. They stopped abruptly without anybody asking them to. Then there was silence everywhere as if the wind and the trees communicated to each other. A marching step of a horse could be heard from afar. At that point, the four friends had to run and safe themselves from whatever was about to happen.

The more they run towards the bridge, the more the horse footsteps grew closer. It was like they are running towards what they were trying to avoid. Immediately they got to the bridge, something just had to make them turn around and right there, their fear multiplied.

**To Be Continued**


	9. Story of Ankle Slicing Car Thief

As soon as Alana had found out she was fired, she had  begun her plan for revenge. It was easy to kill someone, but the hard part was coming up with  how to do it. There were so many options, and  Alana  had often found herself imagining Lena Luthor dying in a  multitude of ways: Alana could shoot her, or Alana could mess with the brakes in her car, or… Alana could stab her. She could slice a sharp, deadly knife into Lena’s skin, watching as the  dark-haired beauty fell to the  floor and cried.

The second Alana came up with the idea, she couldn’t help but smile to herself. Stabbing  Lena was going to be so much more fun. It would be a chance for Alana to make Lena bleed. Really bleed. And she could suffer for ever thinking that she could fire Alana.

It would be so fun, thought Alana.

But it wasn’t going to be any  ordinary stabbing. No, Alana was going to make it a little more interesting. Ever  since she was a little girl she had  heard  about the classic urban legend: the one where some crazed maniac hides under your car, waiting until you get close enough for them to pierce their knife into your ankle. Blood would spurt out, and you’d fall to the ground, howling in  complete pain. That was exactly what Alana wanted. She wanted Lena to suffer. She wanted Lena to cry out and scream and sob.

And she was going to do it.

The night had finally come. Alana was going to kill Lena when she got home from her date, and the stupid woman wouldn’t even know that it was about to happen. Alana had kept in touch with a few co-workers. She might have been fired, but she still had friends at the office, and because of that, she was able to find out that Lena was going out on a night one Friday night.

That Friday night had finally come. Alana had to wait  exactly a month before she could put her plan into action. She was so excited. There were goose bumps running up and down her body as she walked over to Lena’s Mansion. It was already quite dark, and the air was rather cold. That meant  that most people were inside their houses, not wanting to deal with the dark skies  or freezing  air . 

Alana made sure to wear a black jumper and black pants to blend in with the darkness around her. She didn’t want anyone to see her. Her plan was to kill Lena without a single person  pointing their finger at her.  So she had to be careful. Creeping around the bushes outside of Lena’s house, Alana looked at the tall  building . It was big, and Lena could afford it . She was rich, after all – something Alana wasn’t. That just made a new wave of rage hit her. She eyed the windows on the house, noting that one of them was on. When Alana  squinted, she could see Lena in the window, her hands running through her hair. She was getting ready for her date. Alana stayed there for a second, just watching Lena move until she switched the light off.

That was when Alana made her move. She quickly  ducked behind the bushes and made her way to Lena’s car. It was big and black, giving Alana plenty of room to work with. She laid on her back next to the car and shuffled her way under it, her body scraping along the underside of the  vehicle for a second. The knife Alana was going to use on Lena was wedged at her hip. She had a sheath attached to her hip that the knife was  sitting in.

Clinging onto the bottom of the car, Alana waited patiently with her eyes shut. She was sure no one had seen her, so all that was left to do was wait until Lena finished her date and  came back home. It could give Alana the perfect opportunity to get Lena all alone…

Waiting quietly for the other woman to appear, Alana’s eyes widened when she heard footsteps. It was the sound of Lena’s heels clicking against the ground. Alana looked to her side and saw a pair of sleek, black heels that belonged to Lena. They looked expensive, and Alana had to do her  best to hold back a growl. God, she couldn’t wait to kill Lena. It was going to be so much fun.

Lena finally got into the car, and a few seconds later the car started. Alana could hear the sound of the engine roaring as Lena backed out of the  drive way and onto the road. The cold air got colder as Lena began to turn, straightening her car out. Lena then began to zoom down the road, and Alana felt a rush of  electricity hit her. She was so close. It was going to happen so, so soon. Alana was going to finally kill Lena.

Holding onto the bottom of the car as hard as she could, she felt the  vehicle moving left and right. Lena was going to the cinema. A girl from work had told Alana that, and she also let it slip that Lena was going to have dinner after. The car suddenly came to a halt, and the engine turned off. Alana made sure not to make a sound as she heard Lena get out, her  expensive heels once again clicking against the cement. The door shut, and the sound of Lena’s footsteps faded away with each second that passed.

Alana could finally relax. She let go of the car, letting her body fall back against the ground. Her hands hurt a little and she ran them over her hips, trying to get the energy back into them. Licking her lips, Alana thought about how scared Lena was going to be when they got back to her place. She was going to be horrified to see a knife sticking out from under her car. Alana felt a rush from the thought alone. 

Two hours passed, and Alana finally heard Lena coming back. There was someone else with them: probably Lena’s date, and the two of them shared some laughs. Alana quickly grabbed at the bottom of the car again, not wanting anyone to catch even a glimpse of her.

“I had such a great night tonight,” Lena said softly. “Thank you so much for taking me out. It was great.”

“Anytime, Lena,” said her date. “I had a great time as well. And you look so, so stunning tonight.” 

Alana rolled her eyes at that. God, how annoying. Lena always knew how to get under her skin.  Alana listened as Lena and her date said their goodbye s , and then finally Lena got back into her car. She started up the engine, the sound loud in Alana’s ears as Lena began to exit onto the street. Holding onto the car nice and tight, Alana smiled to herself. The moment was getting closer. Very soon, Lena was going to be dead. And all thanks to her. Stupid Lena had no idea that Alana was right there under her car.

Eventually, Lena made it back to her place, and Alana sucked in a sharp breath of air. It was about to happen. When Alana heard the engine turn off, she slowly sank her body onto the ground, making sure to be as quiet as possible. Reaching down, she pulled the shining knife out from the sheath and gripped the handle sharply. Alana felt goose bumps covering her body as she waited. There were butterflies in her stomach, and her toes were curling in her shoes when she heard Lena’s heels landing on the pavement.

“So close,”  Alana mouthed.

She waited for Lena to move closer, close enough so that all  Alana had to do was reach out and slice the blade against Lena’s ankle. Slowly but surely, Lena’s ankles came into view. She had on a dress, so her lower legs were totally bare. Perfect for cutting into.  Alana waited until Lena shut the car door – she didn’t want Lena running away – to make her move. Once she heard the door thudding, she watched as Lena turned around, just about to  walk back into her fancy,  expensive house – and then  Alana did it.

Her arm suddenly appeared from under the car, knife in hand, the blade shining under the dim light of the moon. Before Lena could get away, Alana sliced the knife right along Lena’s left ankle, and the dark-haired woman instantly let out a shrill scream. It was a beautiful sound, but not as beautiful as the sound of Lena’s flesh being torn open. There was a wonderful ripping sound in the air that Alana was never going to forget. Alana had dug the blade into Lena’s soft skin nice and deep, forcing it in until she felt something firm and solid. Alana was pretty sure that it was bone.

Alana had pushed the knife into Lena’s skin as deep as it would go, making sure to pierce and tear  at the flesh. Lena’s once pale skin turned a wonderful shade of red as blood began to  pour from the deep cut. It was a good four inches long.  Alana tilted her head, taking in the sight of the red and pink cut she had created. Lena’s flesh was totally torn. It had been ripped thanks to  Alana ’s knife. She looked down at the blade and smile d when she saw that it was coated in blood. Lena’s blood.

“Oh my God!” Lena cried out. “Oh my God, I’m bleeding. There’s so much blood. Oh my God, there’s so much blood.”

Lena was right. There  was so much blood.  Alana licked her lips as she looked at the blood just seeping out of Lena’s wound. It was pouring out of her ankle like a  faucet , with the cement below them turning the most  beautiful crimson colour.  Alana was certain she had never seen anything more beautiful in her life. Maybe Lena’s ripped and ruined flesh was just as pretty… 

From her spot under the car, she watched as Lena fell to the ground. She grabbed at her ankle, trying to stop the bleeding, but there was so much blood. Lena couldn’t control it without help.  Alana knew that. That was why she had cut Lena so hard and so deep. 

“Oh my God,” Lena screamed out again. “Help me! Someone  help me! Oh, God. Please. Please, somebody, anybody!” 

Lena kept grabbing at her ankle. She was holding it as she hissed, pressing her fingers against the wound tightly. Nothing was going to stop the blood though. Lena turned around when no one came over, laying on her stomach, trying to crawl away – and that was when  Alana got sight of the girl’s ankle. It was totally ruined. The skin at her ankle was all ripped and swollen.  Alana had given Lena a rough, messy cut. Len a ’s ankle was torn up, with her skin all split. And if  Alana looked hard enough, she was pretty sure she could see some bone.

“Someone… Please… Someone help me,” begged Lena. She was pleading. She was crying out. But no one was coming to save her. She was all alone on the cold ground, her ankle seeping out more and more blood.  She couldn’t stand up: her wound would have her hitting the ground in seconds.  There was a pool of it by the car, and as Lena tried to crawl her body along the ground, she ended up smudging the blood. There was a hideous, crimson stain on the ground. “I’m dying. Please, I’m dying. Why won’t anyone help me?” 

Craning her  neck, but making sure not t o move so far that Lena would see her,  Alana took a long, hard look at Lena. Her usually pale skin was even more pale. There was a look of terror in her eyes as she grabbed at her ankle, trying to cradle the wound. Her lips were trembling as she whimpered and pleaded for help. 

No one’s going to help you, thought  Alana , you’re going to die right here. 

“Oh, please, I can’t. Please, please, please. There’s so much blood. God, I’m losing so much blood!” Lena screamed. Lena  lifted up her hand to her face and let out a gasp when she saw that it was totally and completely stained with blood. Her fingers were dripping with the liquid.

She wasn’t lying. There was a huge pool of blood that was quickly forming around her. It was everywhere, and Lena was  starting to shake. Her whole body was twitching as she lost more and more blood. Lena’s pleading and begging became weaker as the seconds passed. She was going to die.  Alana knew that, and she was pretty sure that Lena knew that as well. Lena was losing far too much blood to be able to survive. There was so much of it. The cement was shiny with the red liquid.

“I can’t move,” Lena said with a choked whisper. “I can’t… I can’t… Oh, God… I’m so tired… Please, can anyone hear me? Can anybody hear me?”

I can, thought  Alana . There was a smirk on her face as the choked sounds from  Lena slowly began to die out. She was losing energy. She was losing her breath. She was losing her life.  In just a few hours, Lena was going to shut her eyes for the final time.

Carefully moving out from under the car,  Alana looked down at her handiwork. There she was. Lena was laying there on the floor, with her pale lips parted and her eyes wide and blood all around her. It had creeped up the pathway and had stained Lena’s dress. She was a total mess. A bloody mess.

Alana looked down at Lena’s ankle, finally getting a proper look at her actions. Lena’s ankle had been absolutely demolished. The flesh around the cut was so swollen, so red. Blood was still slowly spilling out of it as Lena’s  barely moving body laid there on the cold, hard ground. 

Putting her knife back into her sheath,  Alana walked away before anyone could see her. Most people would have been in bed by that point, but  Alana wasn’t going to take any chances.

She instead just walked away, leaving  Lena Luthor to die behind her.

Adam had been minding his own business when he found Lena Luthor’s dead body. He had just finished the night shift at work and was walking home, letting th e cold air  kiss his skin. He knew Lena  pretty well . He used to see her all the time around the neighbourhood, so when he walked past her house and spotted her cold, lifeless looking body on the ground, he screamed.

“Lena! Lena, oh my God!” Adam ran over to the girl, grabbing her hand as he  kneeled down next to her. “Lena, who  did this to you?”

“Help… I need… Help,” Lena managed to let out. Her entire body looked pale and lifeless.

Adam nodded. “I’m calling for an ambulance right now. Just hang on. I’m gonna get you help. Just hang on, Lena!” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Adam quickly called 911. His hands were sweating as he waited for them to pick up, and when they finally did, Adam let out a sigh of relief. “Hello? I need you to come to 96 Coleman Street! Hurry! Lena Luthor has been attacked. She’s bleeding. God, there’s so much blood. You  have to hurry! Please!”

“I’m sending someone over now,” came the operator’s worried voice.

“Lena, did you hear that?” asked Adam. “They said they’re coming! They’ll be here any second now. You just  have to hang on. Please, hang on!”

Looking down at Lena, Adam couldn’t help but wince at how lifeless Lena’s eyes looked. It was like there was no light around. She was barely breathing, and Adam held onto her hand tighter.

“Lena?” Adam asked with a whimper. “Lena, please say something. Say anything. Please.”

There was a very soft, very weak cough that  Adam heard, and then that was it. Then there was silence. Complete and utter silence. There wasn’t a single noise, and  Adam knew then and there that Lena was dead. He had tried. He had done his best, but that hadn’t been good enough. With tears in his eyes, he held Lena’s hand tighter, taking in the feeling of her cold skin as he heard sirens in the background. They got louder and louder, and soon they were right behind Adam, with the ambulance and police cars pulling into the street.

It was too late. Lena Luthor was dead.

**Ending**

“We need witnesses to come forward. This incident occurred very late at night, so most people were asleep. If you saw anything, you need to let us know. You need to speak to the police. We’re begging you. Even if you  just  think you  might know something, please get into contact with the authorities.”

Alana couldn’t hold back the smirk on her face as she looked at the television screen. The policeman had sounded so desperate. He was begging for answers to solve the mystery of Lena Luthor’s death, but she was the only one who could solve the crime. She had no plans on coming forward. No,  Alana was going to take the secret of the murder to her grave.

Five months had passed. They had gone by  pretty slowly , and despite all the investigations done by the police, Lena Luthor’s murder still remained unsolved. There had been countless stories about her on TV and on numerous websites, but as time went on, the police eventually gave up. There were no clues or answers. No one knew why Lena had been killed that night, except for one person.

But  Alana wasn’t going to come forward. Why would she? She got what she wanted. Revenge. Lena Luthor had paid the price for firing  Alana .

** Epilogue 1 **

75 years had passed since Alana killed Lena. Life hadn’t been good to her, and she was on her death bed, feeling weak and tired and so,  s o drained. But there was a smile on her face as she remembered that it was  her who killed Lena. Because of her, Lena Luthor was dead… 

Alana died happily that night.

** Epilogue 2 **

Time went on, and 75 years after the death of  Lena , the mystery surrounding  her death was finally cleared up. Thanks to alien technology, the D.E.O. were able to figure out who had killed Lena. The world was shocked to find out that it was Alana who had committed the crime. Her fingerprints were found all over the knife that killed Lena, and finally, the murder of Lena Luthor was solved.


	10. Wendigo

As the autumn came, strange things began happening in the town of Glydefield. Pets were going missing from all of the neighborhoods, even the rich ones. Large breeds to small breeds have gone missing at various times. So far, no one had any idea what was going on. Some people thought a nearby bear had been eating pets. Or maybe a stray coyote pack wandered into town. It was amazing how a few pets going missing turned the town upside down. Schools closed early, parents began patrolling and the police were more prevalent. Lena Luthor took note of the seventh cop car that drove by the library. "That's the seventh one today. Don't they know the pets are going missing at night?" she sighed. Her neighbors' poodle had gone missing the other day. She knew Tootsie very well; she wouldn't run off without reason. In fact, the dog would have stayed near the home if anything. Jessica, her friend, played with a stray end of her hair nervously. "I dunno Lena, I think it's better to have the police out at all times" she argued. Jessica lived with her mom alone, so there were times her mom wasn't home. She was worried her mom might get taken or she might be. "Jess you have a point, but I think it's overkill" Lena explained. Both girls glanced at another passing police car. "I'd rather have overkill than being killed," Jessica said. The girls stood up from the Library steps and walked down the street.

With all the police on patrol, too many adults stopped them thinking they were "up to something". Lena and Jessica ended up going to their friend Alex Danver's house. All three girls sat down to discuss their theories. "From what I gathered, it's most likely some pack of wild coyotes is nearby" Alex proposed. She showed the images of broken fences and garden gates. Even dog houses had claw marks where it looked like animals had been drug out. "How horrible..." Jessica gasped. "Were there any noise complaints?" Lena asked. Alex shook her head, there hadn't been any noises other than initial barking from dogs. "No one heard anything odd. They said the dog barked for a bit but that's too common" she explained. All three girls went silent, a grim feeling overcoming them. "But there isn't much of a mess either.... are you sure it was an animal?" Jessica asked. Lena and Alex shared a look. "Honestly, it's like whatever did this knows how to navigate a neighborhood" Alex confessed. "Yeah, complete with an understanding as to where to find the pets and when to escape" Lena concluded. Jessica's body shivered. "You don't think..." she began. No one wanted to say it, but it was likely they weren't dealing with an animal. It was more likely they had a dangerous human involved. "It's probably some dogfighter looking for dogs to train or something" Lena grimaced. She didn't like the sound of it, but it had to be it. "Yeah, probably someone from out of town. That's why the police haven't said it yet. It would put the people against each other" Alexis agreed.

As evening rolled in, Jessica and Lena headed home. Lena walked Jessica home since the girl was too frightful to walk alone. It was only sundown as Lena walked home. It was fairly quiet as everyone had retired for the curfew. Making it the perfect time to try and find out what was going on! Lena's neighbors had a fat cat that liked to sneak out at night. If she set up her camera, she could snap a picture of the culprit. She hopped the fence of her neighbor's house and set up a string trap in the center of the yard. When the culprit walked through, the string would snap, and her camera would get an image. She made sure to turn off her flash and activate the night vision on her lens. In addition, she would be hiding out in her yard under the shrub bush her mom had grown. She had a microphone and recorder ready to document the sounds in case the camera failed. Her eyes would also be focused on the cat, her plan was full proof. She promised her mom she would be inside before midnight; she just had a Botany project to finish. Thus, began her stakeout. At first, it had been boring just watching the cat laze about. Then Ms. Wellbean brought the cat in, but that didn't last long. The cat had thrown a fit about wanting to go outside, no doubt looking to dig up the usual spot. The cat would usually mess in the garden in Lena's yard after tearing up some of Ms. Wellbean's yard.

Right on time, the cat was released back into the yard and playing the bait Lena needed. She patiently watched the cat go to work on the eggplant part of the garden. If push came to shove, Lena would have to get out of the way so the cat would enter through its usual opening in the fence. She couldn't risk scaring the cat into going back inside, she needed to catch the culprit! Soon, she heard the sounds of rustling from over the fence. Whatever has been stealing the pets was here! She slipped the microphone under the fence and watched carefully. The cat bristled, which meant it had to be something perceived as a threat. Suddenly, the cat hissed and shot across the yard. Lena held her breath as she heard a horrific noise. Something shot across the yard after the cat, too quick for Lena to see. She didn't move, waiting for the creature to move. It padded across the yard and all Lena could make out was that it was a quadruped. Whatever it was, it jumped back over the fence where it came. Just to be safe, Lena stayed for a good hour before crawling out of the shrub. She was too rattled to sleep that night, her mind still stuck on what she saw. Lena had decided it was too dangerous to get the camera, so she left it for the morning.

The next morning, she went out early to get the camera. Lena made sure to beat Ms. Wellbean; she didn't want to explain why her cat went missing. Lena stayed in her room while she looked through the camera. The image was blurry, so she ended up uploading it to her computer. It took a few hours before she could edit it to see the image clearly. She nearly screamed at what she saw. It wasn't an animal, but it couldn't be a human either! Whatever it was, she printed the image out and hurried to Jessica's house. Lena didn't explain much but she told Jessica they had to go to Alex's house right now. Alex was just as puzzled as Lena burst in and pulled both girls into Alex's bedroom. "Lena, it's not even noon yet. What's the deal?" Alex complained. "Yeah, the police said it might still be dangerous to go out in the morning" Jessica agreed. "Time won't matter when you see this thing" Lena warned. She slid the photo to the other girls and waited for their reactions. Both Jessica and Alex stared in a cold sweat. "This can't be right..." Alex muttered. "Lena, this isn't funny" Jessica began to cry. The image was less blurry, but it was easy to make out the skeletal shape of a creature. Its long limbs resembled a spider and it had a head and torso about the size of a human. "This is no joke, whatever took Ms. Wellbean's cat wasn't a coyote or a dogfighter," Lena said. All three girls shared a worried look. "W-we have to take it to the police! This isn't something we can handle!" Jessica cried out. "No, they won't believe us. We need to show our parents" Alex argued. "You're both wrong. No one will believe us; we need to take action before this thing eats a person" Lena interrupted. Both Alex and Jessica frowned. "How are we supposed to deal with this?" Jessica asked. But Alex already knew what Lena was planning. "You're going to ask 'her' to help us, aren't you?" she rolled her eyes while asking. "She is the best chance we have" Lena confirmed.

Lena, Alex, and Jessica stood outside the home of their childhood friend Alana. The three had grown apart from Alana as she had begun to develop habits their parents disapproved of. While the girls still like Alana, she mostly stuck to herself nowadays. Even now, the girls were worried she wouldn't hear them out. Despite their fears, Lena knocked on the door. After what felt like hours, the door opened. Alana walked out with a less than amused expression. "Bout time you came around. Here I thought you were just sitting on your thumbs" she sighed as she walked back inside. The door was left open like a silent greeting for the girls to enter. Alex, Lena, and Jessica took a seat in the living room. It was littered with pictures and articles covering the case of missing pets. "I've been tracking this creature from day one, took my old man's mutt" Alana explained. She had more info to go off of than the other girls had. "How did you get all this?" Alex asked. "Well, if you do everything by the book, you only get the cover," Alana said in a matter of fact tone. Of course, it was likely she used some underhanded manner of acquiring her knowledge. "But you already know what this thing is, right?" Jessica asked. Alana walked over to a bookshelf and removed a thick book. She opened it to a marked page, showing a similar-looking creature in ink. "It's called a Wendigo, or at least that is what I think it is" Alana explained. The creature did check out to Lena, at least in the physique. "But it says here they feed on humans, why we're the only victims’ pets?" she asked. Alana clicked her tongue as if annoyed with the question. "There can only be two reasons. One, the Wendigo has some humanity left and is trying to avoid eating people. Two, the curfew is making it hard for the creature to hunt just yet" Alana explained. Wendigo were known to hunt their prey for a long time, so it was likely the creature was being patient and waiting for its prey to be vulnerable. That meant the Wendigo would kill someone soon.

"How do we kill this thing?" Alex asked. "Kill it?! I don't want to get near it!" Jessica interrupted. "But what if it's hunting you?!" Lena snapped. Alana clapped her hands loudly, interrupting the girls. "Shut up! Or I'll kill you all myself" she yelled. All three girls quieted down. "Now listen, you can't burn a Wendigo. The spirit will just haunt someone else when it finds a vessel" Alana explained. "Then what do we do?" Lena asked. "Incapacitate it, we can bring it into town and let the cops deal with it" Alana suggested. Lena and Alex looked conflicted, but it was Jessica who looked dead on the spot. "We can't trap that thing! It will kill us!" she cried. "It will kill us anyway; I rather go out shooting than let some fugly looking Smegol kill me" Alana argued. Neither girl could disagree with her. "If we are going to do this, we have to do it soon" Lena announced. "I'm way ahead of you, just know I won't save you" Alana began. She led the girls into the garage, revealing the setup she had. Various tools were spread out with other survival equipment. Alana picked up a Fireman's axe and put it in a backpack. She tossed each girl a flashlight and flare stick. "Pick your weapon already" she ordered. Lena picked up a metal bat and a lighter. Alex chose to take the crowbar on the table. Lastly, Jessica just kept the flare and her flashlight. "I don't plan on fighting this thing," she said.

Everyone agreed to meet up at the park and walk into the forest to hunt the Wendigo. Alana had tracked it back to an abandoned cabin. "It's likely the Wendigo possessed some homeless guy using the old cabin" Alana explained. The hunger made it easy for a Wendigo to possess the person and they must have eaten someone. By nightfall, Lena had set up a few traps in to catch the Wendigo or to slow it down. Alana had camouflaged her scent with mud and explained what to do if the Wendigo came into sight. "Stay still and quiet, if you move it will kill you" she warned. Alex hid under a pile of leaves with Lena, Alana hid behind a tree and Jessica was crouched behind a rock. All four girls were positioned with visibility behind each other. It was quiet, too quiet as the girls waited for the Wendigo to show. Lena had explained that it would return after killing another pet, or they might catch it before it's the hunt. Neither girl liked the idea of that. But either way, they would end up seeing the Wendigo. There was a rustling and heavy breathing growing closer, making everyone tense up. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw something approaching. It was hunched over like someone with back pain, but it moved too quickly. It was bald and naked from what she could tell. Following Alana's advice, she couldn't call out to tell anyone. But the look in everyone's eyes told her they knew. The Wendigo edged closer to one of their traps, hissing as it stepped over one of the tripwires.

Alana gripped her axe tightly; this damn thing wasn't stupid. She prepared one of her flares, pointing it in the direction of the Wendigo. Time appeared to stop as Lena, Alex, and Jessica rushed from their hiding spots. Jessica pointed her flare at the Wendigo too, closing her eyes as it fired off at it. Lena and Alex readied their weapons to defend against its attack. As soon as the flares hit the Wendigo, it howled in anger. The creature was quick as it crawled after the girls. Alex used her crowbar to block on of its claws, Lena doing the same as it meant to swipe at Alex again. Alana struck it on the shoulder with her axe, feeling the blade stop. "What?!" she gasped as she tried to pull the axe back out. But the weapon was stuck in the body. Before she could let go, the Wendigo leaped back with her in tow. "Alana!" Lena began to run after them, but Alex grabbed her. "No! We have to retreat!" she shouted. Jessica already took off running ahead of them, running back into the park. Alex and Lena followed behind, breaking through the forest entrance as they heard a painful scream. Neither girl looked back, the Wendigo would be hunting them after that. "We got to go to the police! Now that it killed someone, we have proof!" Alex explained. The girls ran down the block heading to the police station. A loud screech broke through the air as the Wendigo jumped on Lena. "Keep running!" she shouted as it pulled her into an alleyway. "L-Lena!" Jessica sobbed as she kept running. Alex fired a flare behind her, hoping to slow the Wendigo down. But the sounds of nails scratching on the pavement only sped up. As the girls reached the police station, Jessica opened the door and rand into the first set of doors. Just as Alex broke through the doorway, the Wendigo grabbed her backpack. "Jessica!" she yelled as she reached for the girl. "Jessica grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back. The commotion would surely alert the cops!

But the Wendigo screeched, scratching at Jessica's hands. The girl pulled back in pain, hearing her friend scream for the last time. Jessica watched sorrowfully as Alex was dragged away. Behind her, the door opened up and she fell into the Police station. "What is going on out here!" the officer on duty yelled. Jessica could only cry as she curled up into a ball, lamenting the loss of her friends. After that, she was put into a cell for questioning. Several cops were put on patrol in search of the Missing Teens Girls. Jessica was unable to answer most of their questions due to shock and fear, so they sent her home despite her begging and pleading. An officer drove her home and explained to her parents that she was involved in a missing person case. They were told to keep an eye on her for more reasons than one. As she lay in her bed that night, she couldn't help but fear the Wendigo would come for her. Eventually, the adrenaline ran out and Jessica passed out. She woke near daybreak to the sound of something scratching at her window. Her heart jumped in her throat and she looked at her door. All she had to do was call for her parents, that's it! Just as she was about to scream, the window opened. Her fear made her voice stop working, leaving her mute as the creature crawled inside. It's hissing and growling made her want to run, but her body was frozen in place. The creature slinked up to her, holding something in its hand. Jessica nearly wretched as she recognized the hand of Alana, she had gotten a tattoo on her wrist.

The creature growled and pushed it against her face, it didn't take Jessica a book to know what it wanted. She shook her head and the creature slammed its hand onto her headboard. She opened her mouth a bit and the creature forced its clawed fingers between her lips. Jessica was finally able to scream as it forced parts of Alana's hand into her mouth. She choked it down as tears streamed down her face. She barely registered the sounds of stomping as her parents ran to her room. The Wendigo jumped from her bed and back out the window before they entered the room. Jessica's parents stared in horror as their daughter was covered in blood and retching. They called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital.

**Ending**

After having her stomach pumped, the doctors requested Jessica stay overnight for psychoanalysis. They said she was at risk of becoming a cannibal if left untreated. So, Jessica found herself in a hospital gown on a reclined bed. Her mind was blank from the drugs they gave her to calm her. But she could hear a voice in her head. It was speaking to her, telling her what to do. "Eat....consume.... hunt.... gorge...." the voice called to her. "I'm hungry...." Jessica muttered to herself. Her hands snapped as her joints popped and extended. "I'm hungry...." she growled as her spine split and expanded. "I'm so hungry!" she shouted. Several nurses entered the room after hearing her shouting. But no one was in the room. Jessica's I.V. drip had been ripped out and was leaking on the floor. The bed was overturned and had claw marks. The window was shattered, and part of her gown was caught on the broken glass.

No one saw Jessica ever again.


	11. Sack Man

Looking at fresh meal US Tourists (Alison DiLaurentis, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields, Mona Vanderwaal)  he just got, Sack man started preparing to eat. His existence is often overlooked but he still exists looking for naughty children to ease his hunger. His recent prey had been bullying others so was taken, finished eating, the Sack man sets out again to look for more prey.

The Luthor family becomes tourists in the summer vacation and travel all over the world for adventure, this time they decided to travel to Brazil. Lionel Luthor and Lillian Luthor are about 40 years old and have a son, Lex Luthor is 14-Year Old and an adopted daughter Lena Luthor is 8-year-old. They live in England and have decided to travel to Brazil this time. They have no relatives and Lionel and Lillian parents had died peacefully with old age.

“We are going to be late for the plane,” said Lex, “Don’t speak like that to your sister,” said Lionel. “It’s alright daddy,” Lena said. “Forget about that Lionel and make sure to buy me a diamond necklace there,” said Lillian, mother of the kids, as they headed for the airport to travel to  Brazil hotel named Del Luna. Lena had a bad feeling about the trip this time and didn’t want to go but she had to consider her family’s feelings. The airport was crowded as always and they had to get the boarding pass.

After boarding the plane, the family started discussing what to do when they land and they reached a collective decision that each member can go wherever they want but had to gather till dinner time in the hotel. As they had traveled to many places, Lillian and Lionel were not worried much about anything.

“We are finally here” exhaled Lex after exiting the airport. “Stop daydreaming and look for a taxi” ordered Lionel.  Finally, they were able to get one and traveled to the hotel, Lex started discussing with Lena about what they are going to do together.  Soon they reached the hotel and Lex slammed the Taxi door and everyone started glaring at him. Not saying anything he started walking towards the hotel.

“What are we going to do about that kid” sighed Lionel. “No worries daddy, he’ll grow up” said Lena. “Whatever, let’s go to the rooms, this place is as shabby as ever,” said Lillian looking at the people walking around her.  The kids ran off as soon as they finished unpacking.

Lex and Lena were not much interested in sightseeing and their parents needed some privacy so they had acted tactfully and left. Lex started playing with the ice statue nearby, “We shouldn’t do that, we could cause trouble” said Lena worriedly. “Who cares?” replied Lex rudely. As soon as he said this the statue toppled over and crashed to the ground, the piece floated towards the children. Lex and Lena ran away from there and hid in an empty dark room.  The darkroom was well hidden behind a cupboard but Lex’s keen eyes were able to tell that there was a door behind it, it was perfect for hiding too.

“That was fun!” said Lex breathing heavily. “We should not tell others about this and get scolded by our parents,” said Lena. “That was what I wanted,” thought Lex. The adrenaline rush had excited both of them and they wanted to create more trouble to feel alive. Although Lena was skeptical she decided to go along with it as she wanted to keep watch over Lex too. Both of them agreed on wearing masks to hide their faces so that they don’t get caught, running in the hallways they started screaming their lungs out and the whole hotel soon came to know about the two naughty kids. 

The kids  started pranking the staff of the hotel too, throwing water on them and pushing them whenever they see them, the staff tried to catch them but were unable to. Soon the whole hotel got involved in catching the kids while their parents were busy in their room. As the catching party became too much to handle, the kids decided to hit the streets. As they exited Lena felt a chill as if someone was staring at them but it disappeared the next moment.

Lena felt it was time to stop this but Lex was too controlling and had Lena follow him. They soon started harassing the locals too, Lex bought some water balloons and filled them with water and glitter. He started aiming at people from the back alley and started running as soon as he hit them. Lena was forced to be with him as she was partially at fault too of letting Lex continue his acts. Lena always had a nagging in her mind that because she was adopted, she had no right to tell her brother to stop. She had felt this way since once when her own adopted mother scolded her and used her adoption as a taunt. Although she apologized later it had left a scar.

Lex also started ringing the bells of random houses and left the block filled with people as they all came out to see who rang the bell. The smile of one man creeped Lena out as he went back to his house. The others also sighed which really disturbed her, looking around she noticed that nobody was even paying them any heed even if they knew that these kids were the culprits. Noticing nothing, Lex continued doing his misdeeds till it was dinner time and they went back to the hotel. They took off their masks to make sure they were not recognized, Lex kept two water balloons with him.

“I thought you two must have needed a bath,” said Lex after hitting his parents with them. The parents scolded him and Lena was also reprimanded for not stopping her brother. Feeling wronged, Lena decided not to talk about the unusual things she noticed today to her parents. “Let’s head for dinner,” said Lionel and the family finally went to eat something together. The hotel had calmed down but it only looked the calm before the storm to Lena, she had a feeling that everyone was waiting for something to happen.

They had a fulfilling dinner and decided to go to a cinema to spend some family quality time. Lena started having fun and decided to forget about her instincts and stopped noticing anything anymore. After the movie, they decided to walk together back to the hotel and even Lex started behaving properly as they were having a good moment. Soon they reached the hotel and the happy moment ended with them going back to their rooms to sleep.  Lena didn’t want it to end so she made everyone play cards with her. They played blackjack and poker without any real money and enjoyed till deep into the night until Lionel finally ordered them all to go to sleep.

During the night, Lena suddenly woke up and heard the sound of a sack being dragged away and she quickly noticed Lex was missing. She quickly ran out of the room and saw the traces of the sack and she was about to follow when Lex called her from behind, he had gone to the washroom. Turning to look back at the traces of the sack, Lena found nothing and so she concluded that she must have imagined it. The next day, Lena had forgotten all about what happened last night.

Lex was obviously in the same mood to cause trouble and this time Lena also decided to participate to get the thrill. They made the old dusty room of the hotel their hideout and often held their meetings there. During the whole week, the kids caused various troubles for the hotel as well as the locals and everyone were troubled by them. Their parents were often pranked too but they were used to it and paid them no heed. Though once, Lex started hitting stray cats with stones and many of them were hit. Lena tried to stop him but it was of no use and he threw stones to his heart's content.  That day they decided to slip from their room at night and go to their hideout to think of new ways for troubling others. 

Lex was supposed to go first and Lena to follow after fifteen minutes, before leaving Lena left their masks on the bed and made her way to the hideout. As soon as she entered the hideout, she saw a skinny middle-aged man putting Lex into his sack while he was screaming. Lena also started screaming as the man started moving towards her, she tried to run but the door was locked. Thinking quickly Lena threw her bracelet on the ground just as the man grabbed her. Lena felt all her energy draining out and she was thrown into the sack where she fainted. The sack man slowly made his way towards his place without any change in his demeanor.  Lena woke up in a dark place and could hear Lex’s breathing around him before she was knocked out again by the Sack man.

“LEX, LENA, WHERE ARE YOU?” shouted Lionel. Lillian was crying holding onto the masks of them both. The hotel was in an uproar with everyone crowding the room to see what had happened. The managers were looking grim and were giving orders to search the hotel for any clue of the kids. Soon the police were also called and when they heard that the kids went missing, they all backed out of the case.  The staff had told them something and so no policeman wanted to get involved.  After looking at the masks, the manager also refused to help anymore, he called off the search and the parents were flabbergasted by the situation, they started doubting the hotel too. As they were receiving no help at all, they decided to look for their children by themselves. The search was fruitless and Lionel and Lillian were on the verge of mental breakdown. They decided to take a walk to clear their minds and to think about what to do next.

While walking along the street, the locals glanced at them with pity and some with gloating at their misfortune. Suddenly they heard someone running behind them, turning around they saw one of the maid calling out to them “Mr. and Mrs. Luthor, please wait” breathed the nurse. “What do you want?” said Lillian rudely. “Let her speak,” said Lionel calmly. “I thought it is time to tell you what happened to your children as everyone is avoiding it, the same happened to my little brother so I know how it feels,” said the maid.

“Let’s go to a quiet place,” said Lionel. All three of them went to a desolate park. Lillian looked at the maid to explain what she meant. “Mr. and Mrs. Luthor, you shouldn’t have come here in the first place, there is an old myth that is true here,” said the maid. “What is that?” asked Lionel. “Have you ever heard of the Sack man? I guess not, it’s an Immortal Human Men that looks for naughty and mischievous children. After kidnapping them he eats them to fill his hunger and to teach other kids” said the maid.” That’s a lot of nonsense you are talking about, there is no way that’s true” said Lillian. “I also thought the same way until it occurred with me,” said the maid. “What’s that got to do with us though?” asked Lionel “We have been continuously pranked with two kids wearing the masks you hold and the locals were also disturbed by them, this is the reason they were taken away,” said the maid. “If that is the case why didn’t the manager or police told us this,” asked Lillian “They don’t want to get themselves involved with the Sack man so they decided to stay away,” said the maid 

“I don’t believe her,” Lillian said to her husband. “There is no other explanation than what she gave. Is there any way we could get help at all?” Lionel asked the maid. “Well I was never able to find my brother but if you get help from that man maybe you could find your children,” said the maid. “That man?” questioned Lionel. “Yeah he has been researching on the Sack man for ages, maybe he could help,” said the maid. “Take us to him,” said Lillian rudely. “I can’t, my help ends here, this is his address and good luck to you two,” said the maid and started walking back after writing them the address. “Wait.” said Lillian “Let her go, she did her best, can’t you see nobody else want to help us” interrupted Lionel. Lionel ran after the maid to thank her and also looked for a taxi.

The two soon started to travel towards the address which was given to them, they were soon out of the city and were traveling towards the countryside, soon they reached a  rundown cabin, the taxi dropped them off there. They started making their way towards the cabin, the cabin was on the brink of breaking down and around it weeds were everywhere. The lights were off and there was no doorbell, Lionel knocked on the door but there was no response and it was open so they entered. The place was messy with books and rubbish everywhere, there was no place to sit. They heard a cry “Help! Help!”. Both of them ran towards the noise to see someone buried under a pile of books and unable to get out.

They shoved the books aside and saw a man of average height with messy hair and broken glasses lying there. He had no meat and was skinny, “Thank you, esteemed guests, for helping me” said the man “My name is Trevor and may I know why you are  here? “Trevor  continued. Lionel told the whole story to Trevor and told him how  they had come to him for  help. “I understand but there is really nothing we can do, Sack man has passages to his hideout from everywhere and I have not been able to find one till now,” said Trevor. “We could look for clues in the hotel, please you have got to help us” begged Lillian. Upon such persuasion, Trevor agreed. “By the way, why are you researching about the Sack man in the first place?” asked Lionel.

“When I was 12 years old, my sister used to be naughty too, instead of reprimanding her I ignored her mistakes and she was taken away by the Sack man. My mother was heartbroken and shortly passed away. I had no father so I decided to take revenge. It’s been 40 years and all I know is how to exterminate Sack man but I was never able to find him. ” Trevor told the  Luthors. Lionel didn’t find it suitable to ask about the method to so they rode silently back to the hotel.

The management was still avoiding the  Luthors, more so with a strange man with them, nobody even came near. The hotel owners had been called as it was a big issue and though everyone wanted the  Luthors to leave nobody was able to reveal their intentions.  The hotel management was as uncooperative as ever and we're not letting them search the hotel without a  search warrant.  Trevor called some of his acquaintances in the police and pulled some strings, soon they were able to gather a small force and a search warrant to look for the clues. TheLuthors participated themselves this time and the guests were politely asked to leave the rooms for some time. Although the missing children had already caused many guests to leave the hotel. “It’s been bugging men but why the people here don’t do anything about the sack man,” asked Lionel. “They don’t want to get caught in the Sack man wrath and get killed too” replied Trevor. “They also believe that Sack man is out of this world and is not killable ” continued Trevor.

The search went on for hours with every room carefully inspected but there was no lead and the locals were discouraging the party so that they won’t anger the Sack man. “What a mess have we gotten ourselves into?” asked Lillias, looking for some comfort but Lillian was quiet as he was not able to do anything at all. The  Luthors were getting frantic as more time passed, the chances of survival of their kids diminished.  The news had spread all over the city and everyone was anxious and scared of what was going to happen next. Everyone knew that a storm was approaching.

Going upstairs, Lionel spotted a small run-down door, separate from the others but hard to find as in front of it was a cupboard. He called everyone and proceeded to enter, they searched the room and finally found  Lena's bracelet which she had dropped. “She always wore it even when sleeping, as it was a protective charm from her biological mother,” said Lillian. The search intensified in the room and every nook and cranny was searched of the room but there was nothing to go on about. 

Let’s continue tomorrow Trevor said and the  Luthors knew that there was really no chance of survival at this point so they went to the management of the hotel. “WHY DIDN’T  YOU TELL US ABOUT THIS INSANE THING THAT’S GOING ON HERE” shouted Lillian towards the mangers. “DO YOU WANT TO GET SUED?” continued Lillian. Lionel also started blaming the hotel owners of how irresponsible they were and what a terrible country Brazil is. The people knew that they were just letting out their pent up feelings and didn’t retaliate. After using all their energy, the  Luthors collapsed on the sofas and fell asleep.

The search continued the next day but the  Luthors were still depressed, Trevor kept tinkering with things in that small room as he knew there would be a clue there. He had also brought a bag with him with some materials. After a long time, Trevor tapped on the floor on the upper left side to find it hollo. He had finally discovered the passageway. He called everyone and decided to raid the place. Trevor, the  Luthors and two policemen who volunteered got ready to go down.

A rope was thrown down and one by one they slowly climbed down, the passageway was wet and felt disgusting but there was nothing that they could do. Finally, they landed on the ground, when walked on the ground it made a crunchy sound. “OH MY GOD, these are bones” shouted Lillian. “Don’t panic?” said Trevor taking the lead. Soon the cam across a clearing with many bodies (Alison DiLaurentis, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields, Mona Vanderwaal) lying across. All of their heads were intact but the rest of their bodies were bones and only their skeleton could be seen. Trevor and the  Luthors vomited on the sight and readied themselves for what was coming next. They finally reached the end and there laid the bodies of Lex and Lena, eaten with only boned left with their heads only intact. 

“NO! NO! NO!” cried Lionel and ran towards the bodies and started crying while hugging them. Lillian fainted after seeing the condition of her children. The policeman stayed to the side and started taking pictures of every child there was. Trevor hoped to find her sister and started searching for her. It was as if no one noticed the shadow at the corner of the wall creeping towards the one of the policemen. 

Suddenly, the policeman cried out and the next moment he was lying dead on the ground with a hole in his chest. “EVERYONE! GATHER AROUND, HE IS HERE” shouted Trevor while running towards Lionel. Lillian had also regained consciousness and ran towards Lionel, along with the last policeman. “We have angered the Sack man by breaking into his place, he’ll massacre us all” cried the policeman. Trevor hurriedly started taking out different weapons like sword, arrows, bows and dipped them in some water. “The only way to deal some damage to the Sack man is by using these weapons made up of silver, dipped in the holy water from the Church” explained Trevor.

Lionel, Trevor, and the policeman grabbed the swords while Lillian took of hold pf the bow and the arrows. The Sack man appeared in front of them and started walking towards them,  Lillian shot an arrow but he dodged it. Lionel went forward with his sword to kill the Sack man to get his revenge. Knowing not much about swordsmanship, Lionel only waved his sword here and there and was easily dodged by the Sack man. Trevor and the policeman also went forward to fight while Lilian aimed at the Sack man.

The Sack man wasn’t to be taken lightly and started injuring the three-man with his nails, the three-man soon were riddled with a lot of cuts. As time ticked by, the three guys were losing their strength while the Sack man was unaffected by all this. Trevor knew that this was the only chance they had and if they failed, there would be no one to stop the Sack man, so he made up his mind and charged alone towards the Sack man. Sack man penetrated his chest with his hands, “KILL HIM NOW” shouted Trevor holding the Sack man. All of a sudden Trevor felt his strength weakening as his energy was getting absorbed by the Sack Man. Timely aimed arrow by Lillian to the Sack man’s neck stopped the drain of energy and Trevor was able to hold him until the two got there.  Finally, Lionel reached first and sliced the Sack man’s head while the policeman cut sliced him into half from the waist.

The Sack man turned into ash and disappeared.” Did we kill him?” asked Lionel while bandaging Trevor’s wound. “I…think…so” coughed up Trevor” I…. won’t…. survive….so…. please…. bury….me…. with….my…sister” continued Trevor as he took his last breath. “I surely will my friend and thank you” Lionel whispered softly to Trevor. He gently closed Trevor’s eyes and asked the Policeman to call for back up. Soon the hotel was sealed and dug to get all the bodies out, they were all buried in a cemetery. Trevor’s sister's body was not identified so he was buried with the rest of the identified bones. The Luthors decided to bury their children here too and also moved to brazil to deal and families with similar circumstances as them. The dead Policeman body was handed to his family and compensation was provided though it was not enough to fulfill the void left behind the death. The maid was able to get his brother’s body and she buried him beside her parent’s graves. The Luthor’s cried and mourned for Months into Years at their children’s graves and regretted not spending more time with their family and correcting their children’s behaviors. 

**Ending**  
Lionel and Lillian moved to the cabin of Trevor and cleaned it, they also renovated it and it was worth living in now and looked beautiful. Lionel took possession of Trevor’s things as there was no heir and the things included Trevor’s notebook containing all the information. He also read all the information that Trevor had collected during his lifetime. “So what was the Sack man after all,” asked Lillian.  “ The Sack man is made up of negative energies from humans like fear, hatred, and jealousy. The human imagination gives him his form and purpose,  we killed him so maybe we will get another Sack man or he will get healed but we won’t be hearing from him for a long time” replied Lionel. “When the Sack man does return, we will make sure we are ready for him and better off, humankind would be ready for him” continued Lionel while looking across the horizon.


	12. The Licked Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Story goto be my Longest Urban Story.  
> This Fanfic goto Updated once a While.

As the news plays in the background, Lena Luthor fiddles with her Black hair as she looks in the mirror to see if her makeup is alright. She admires the autumn-toned hue of all her makeup choices: her eyeshadow being a rust orange color and her lipstick being a nice neutral brown. Her foundation, eyebrows, and mascara are perfect, so she smiles to herself as she puts all her cosmetics away. She slips into an off the shoulder black dress and grabs her purse as she heads into her living room, waiting for her roommates to return. Just in the nick of time, the doorknob turns and clicks. Lena turns her head to see if anyone is there, but the doorway is completely blank, the door is not even open. Lena looks around in confusion wondering if she’s just hearing things. In seconds, the door turns again and her breath catches in her throat, though this time her housemates step into their humble abode.

“Hey, guys,” Lena says as she walks up to them with a smile on her face, brushing aside the confusion of the earlier events, chalking it up to Alex Danvers and Jessica just taking a while to open the door.

“Hey! I see you’re all dolled up,” Alex comments as she flashes a smile toward Lena.

“Yeah, you look really nice,” Jessica comments quietly, a gentle smile on her face.

“Thanks, guys! I’m just hoping this date goes well.”

“I’m sure it will! If not, we can always eat some ice cream together and watch a crappy movie,” Alex responds.

Lena laughs a bit and nods her head before turning on her heel and looking back at her friends one last time before she leaves.

“... had brutally murdered a thousand victims in North America ever since the beginning of their killing spree twenty-five years ago. No one has yet to see the serial killers true identity or even their features and make it out alive, so I suggest everyone at home be careful and keep their doors shut.”

The room is silent as the women listen to the newscaster finish up speaking about the serial killer report of the day.

“Lock the doors and make sure you don’t open them for anyone. That serial killer is still on the loose and I won’t be here to protect you guys. You both should know where the bat is,” Lena says, her face serious and her voice firm.

“Relax, we’re not schoolchildren, Lena. We can handle ourselves,” Alex says.

“We won’t open the door for anyone. Promise,” Jessica replies.

“Thanks, guys,” Lena says as her expression relaxes.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t keep your date waiting,” Alex says.

“I won’t. I’ll see you guys later,” Lena says, her friends bidding her goodbye as she steps out of the apartment and into the hall, closing the door behind her as her heels sounding throughout the building as she makes her way downstairs to meet her date. Once they hear a car drive off in the distance, Jessica and Alex make sure the doors are locked before they head into their living room and sit down together.

“So, is there anything you want to do? I’m free tonight, so I wouldn’t mind hanging out,” Alex says.

“Uhm, we can watch a movie?”

“True. Is there anything, in particular, you want to see?”

“Uh, not really,” Jessica says, her eyes and body shifty as she fidgets on the couch.

“What’s the matter?”

“Uh, well… I just have a bad feeling.”

“A bad feeling? About what?”

“That serial killer,” Jessica says with a shaky voice, her body shivering as she grips her sides.

“It’ll be fine,” Alex says reassuringly, “We locked the doors and if whoever this crazy murderer is tries to break in, we’ve got a bat and we can call the police.”

Jessica relaxes a bit as Alex calms her down, the girl sighing in a slight bit of relief as she nods her head in understanding.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s just really freaky is all, but there's nothing to worry about.”

“Exactly, it’s all gonna be fine! Now, are you ready to pick a movie?”

“Well… Maybe we can watch this new thriller that came out.”

“Ooo, a thriller? Sounds interesting, especially if you’re actually interested in it,” Alex says.

“The trailers were really nice and it didn’t seem all that scary.”

“Well, then pull it up, I’m intrigued!”

Jessica smiles before nodding and turning on the TV, clicking some buttons to select their favorite streaming service. She navigates to the thriller movie of her choice and presses play, but Alex interrupts.

“Hey! You’re just gonna watch the movie with no popcorn?”

“Oh, sorry! I forgot,” Jessica says apologetically.

“No need to apologize, we’d both be missing out. Hold on a sec, I’ll go make some now,” Alex says as she stands and heads into the kitchen. Silence fills the room, only the fianit opening and closing of cupboard filling the air as Jessica stares at the TV screen. The faint hum of the microwave and Alex humming to herself replace the sound of the cupboards.

As Jessica sits and waits, she hears a sudden shift from the floor above her. She jolts as she looks upward, her heart picking up its pace as she bites her lip, worry and a hint of fear filling her chest. She anxiously waits for more thudding and almost jumps out of her skin when she feels a hand upon her shoulder.

“AHH!”

“Woah, relax! You were spacing out. Are you still worried about the serial killer?”

“No,” Jessica says as she shakes her head in response to Alex’s question, the frightened woman mostly answering to convince herself.

“I… just hear a noise,” Jessica says.

“A noise?”

“Yeah, a thud.”

“It could have been a neighbor maybe?”

“No, it was from above.”

“It was probably nothing,” Alex says, trying to reassure Jessica.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m just on edge,” Jessica replies.

“Well, then at least you’ve set the right mood for this movie,” Alex jokes, the woman trying to lighten the mood. Jessica smiles weakly in response before nodding, Alex plopping down beside her with a popcorn bowl in hand.

“I’d prefer to be a different kind of on edge for the movie, but I guess this will do,” Jessica says. Alex laughs before grabbing the remote and pressing play. The two shift on the couch until they are comfortable, relaxing as the movie gets past its opening credits and begins with the introduction.

The two women are completely engrossed by the movie as they absent finely shove popcorn into their mouths and enjoy the buttery, crunchy goodness without much of a care in the world. The movie continues, but Jessica just can’t seem to clear her mind of her worries about the upstairs. She grabs the remote and pauses the movie before looking at the confused Alex.

“I want to go check,” Jessica says.

“Check?”

“I want to go upstairs and make sure that no one is there.”

“Jessica, you’re being ridiculous. We’re the only ones-”

“I’m not being ridiculous, I’m just making sure! Going to check isn’t going to hurt anyone, right? I just want to go see… Please?”

“Fine,” Alex says with a sigh, standing to move and Jessica the following suit. Alex walks ahead of Jessica, quickly walking through the living room as Jessica moves quietly and slowly behind her. They stop at the foot of their stairs as Jessica looks up at the second floor curiously, Alex rolling her eyes as she begins to ascend the stairs.

“Wait!”

“I’m not waiting, Jessica. The faster this is over, the faster we can get back to watching the movie. I want to know what happens!”

Alex quickly reaches the top of the stairs and looks around, opening up all five room doors of the apartment, even making sure to get the bathroom doors as well. She doesn’t look very deeply, barely glancing into the room of each door she’s opened, but that’s enough for her.

“See? Nothing there,” Alex says.

Jessica walks up behind her and does the same, though this time a bit more carefully. She walks into each of the rooms and looks around, but finds nothing. Once she’s satisfied, she sighs to herself and begins to walk down the stairs. Alex follows suit and soon the girls are back on the couch.

“I guess it was nothing after all.”

“Yeah, like I said! There’s nothing to be scared of, it’s just you, me, and this movie.”

Jessica nods as Alex picks up the bowl of popcorn and presses the play button on the TV remote, the girls going back to watching the thriller once more, though Jessica can’t shake off her feeling of unrest. Alex elects to ignore her friend's worries and enjoy the movie, stuffing her face with popcorn as she awaits the next scenes of the movie with bated breath. For the rest of the movie, Jessica is too nervous to pay attention to the movie while Alex is on the edge of her seat. Once the credits begin to roll, Alex sighs in contentment as she looks at the screen.

“Good choice, Jessica! That was a pretty decent movie.”

“Yeah…”

“You weren’t paying attention, were you?”

“No… Sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, you picked the movie and you’re the one who missed it,” Alex says.

“I didn’t mean to, I just can’t get the serial killer business out of my head.”

“It’s alright. I know just the thing to get you to relax!”

**This Story** **To Be Continued**


	13. Black Eyed Children

'A devastating murder took place in the town of Barnbrook. A couple was murdered, and their children left orphaned. Thankfully, the children were relocated to a foster home to live together. The murder was never solved and continued to stay a mystery in the sleepy town. Then one day, the children went missing.'

"I'm telling you, Serena, this story would really bring in tourism" Blair explained. Barnbrook was a sleepy town, in the sense, nothing ever really happened in it. Everything was as average as the cows on the town limits. The population was only declining as more people moved away. "Blair, it might attract the wrong kind of attention. I don't want a bunch of ghost hunters wandering around at night" Serena argued. Blair flipped her black hair over her shoulder, holding up the old article she had read. "At this point, we should be open to anything if it will revive the town" she argued. Serena didn't look any more convinced as her friend showed her a list of television shows that hosted ghost hunters. "Sure, they may be annoying, but the police won't let them do whatever they want" she continued. Serena sighed, rubbing her temple slowly. "I suppose I could lend the case file to you. But you have to bring it back by tomorrow and no scanning copies! You can write a summary and share that" she finally gave in. "Yes! I promise you won't regret it! Barnbrook is about to become the biggest spookfest on the west side!" Blair cheered. The little dinner they were in was nearly empty, so her outburst went without any dirty looks. Serena took a long sip of her coffee, feeling tired already. Blair had been chasing her around for the past week, trying to get a copy of the original case file for the only unsolved murder in their town. The case had been closed as no leads were found, ruled as a suicide by the parents. But Blair had found potential in the story and wanted to share it with a network in hopes of getting some publicity for the town. Serena wasn't against that, but she was against having too much attention on something as negative as an unsolved murder.

"Fine, just don't go overboard with your summary. Our police department's credibility will be on the line" Serena warned. She worked as a clerk and handled the case files. While Serena wasn't a direct member of the police, it was still related to her job. "Oh, I know, I won't for legality reasons" Blair waved her friend off. Serena and Blair left the dinner and went their separate ways. It was late into the evening and both women had to work tomorrow. "I'll bring it to you tomorrow! Let's make it lunch!" Blair called out as she walked away. "Sure!" Serena called after her friend as she tied her blonde hair into a high ponytail. She had a few documents to look over tonight, so she was prepping herself for it. As Serena passed the last convenience store before her home, she noticed two kids standing outside. They were staring absently ahead, looking directly into the street. Serena didn't see any adults outside, so she figured they were inside the store. She checked her clock, it wasn't that late. Serena popped into the store pretending to shop around for something. As she browsed the inside, she noticed a lack of customers. No other children or adults, so what were those kids doing outside? She grabbed some chips and juice, she could at least give the kids something to snack on. As she approached the counter, Serena tried asking the clerk about the kids. "What? Kids? Where?" the boy asked. He looked around, leaning over the counter to take a peek. "You didn't see them? They are standing right outside" Serena gasped. The teen shrugged, giving her the change. "If they are still out there when I change shifts, I'll call the cops" he explained.

Serena gave him a dirty look but didn't bother arguing with him. She went back outside and looked at the children. The girl looked older, about seven years of age. The boy was maybe five or six. Both of them continued to stare out toward the street. "Um hi?" Serena kneeled down to their level. Both kids turned to her blankly, not responding vocally. "So, you two waiting for someone?" she continued. "No" the little girl replied before looking back to the street. The boy continued to stare at Serena as if waiting for her to ask another question. "Okay, you two want me to walk you home?" she asked. The boy turned to his sister, nodding to her. "You may follow," the boy said. Both children began walking down the street, not bothering to see if Serena was following behind. Serena awkwardly walked behind them a few paces. She sped up after realizing it looked like she was trailing them. "What are your names?" Serena asked the children. Neither of them responded. They turned onto a dirt road, taking her by surprise. The road was one that led to construction sights. It was possible the kids lived in a log cabin or something, but she didn't think anyone took up residency in this part of town. It was all owned by private companies anyways. The children finally stopped in front of a large hole in the ground. It was shallow enough she could see the bottom but wide enough to fit a building on top of it.

"This is your home?" Serena asked. The girl looked at Serena, shaking her head. "We live here" she explained. Serena didn't see any signs of living, let alone proper amenities. "Um, how about staying at my place for the night? I have snacks" she offered. The boy and girl looked up at Serena. Their blanks stare made her uncomfortable, so she took a few steps back. The kids followed her steps, so they agreed to her offer? Serena led them back into town and to her home. Her house was big enough for the kids to have a room together, she had a spare bedroom and could move a mattress in there. As soon as the kids were in her home, they began staring at everything. Her family photos, her food, bath products and anything they could access. Serena let their curiosity run as she made some food for them. The kids didn't look homeless, but she felt like they might not have eaten in days. On such short notice, she only had enough for mac n cheese. Kids liked mac n cheese though, or so she hoped. Once the food was done, Serena set two hot bowls on the table. The boy and girl awkwardly sat there, looking at the dishes in front of them. "Dig in before it goes cold" she smiled at them. The girl and boy began what looked like the most robotic way to eat mac n cheese that Serena had ever seen. But she decided they were probably still nervous around her. She went through her bag and collected the documents she was going to look at. "I'll be in my office if you need anything just let me know" Serena called out to the kids.

She hunched over her desk as she read paper after paper. The boring script made her sleepy, but she had to stay awake. If the kids needed her, she had to be ready to help them. But it sounded too quiet outside. Serena had a television, maybe they didn't care for cartoons? She also had books, but they were all beyond the reading level of a child. Serena shook her head, she had to focus on her work first. As she finished her last document, Serena decided to take a break and get up. She walked back outside and found the kids still at the table. "Uh? All done?" Serena asked. "Yes," the girl replied to her. "Well, you can go watch TV or something" Serena explained. The boy and girl slid out of their seats, walking into the living room. Serena grabbed their bowls, she could at least clean up after them. She smiled as she noticed most of the food was eaten, she wasn't a bad cook or anything. As she scraped out the rest of the cheese sauce, Serena noticed something dark brown in the bowl. A large cockroach fell into her sink and she screamed. Serena grabbed the spray nozzle and forced it into the drain. She plugged the drain and set the bowls in the sink. She took a few moments to try and calm herself. Cockroaches weren't part of the recipe, she didn't have any in her home either. The only thing she could think of was that one of the kids brought one in. But she would have noticed a cockroach!

Once Serena was calmed, she filled the bowls with soap water and walked into the living room. Once again, everything was unnaturally quiet. Serena peeked over the couch and saw both children sitting in front of the television. Meanwhile, static covered the screen. It was unnerving watching them, so she cleared her throat. "I can change the channel if you'd like" she offered. The girl turned to Serena with unblinking eyes. "This is our favorite channel" the girl warned before turning back to the screen. Serena stepped away from the kids, maybe they were just tired. She decided to prepare the spare room for them while she waited for their 'program' to end. It took her a solid 30 minutes to put together a makeshift bedroom. It would be much better than some large hole in the ground. Serena went back into the living room, but the children were gone. She panicked, looking around for the children. Not in the hallway, not in the kitchen and not in the bedroom! Serena stopped as she heard running water. The bathroom light was on and the door cracked by a sliver. She approached it slowly, pushing the door with her fingertips. Inside the bathroom, the skin was overflowing with water. Serena shut off the faucet quickly, looking around for the children. Neither one was in the bathroom. She sighed and grabbed a large towel to clean up the mess that was made. Once the water was cleaned up, she threw the damp towel into a hamper.

"Kids?! Where are you?!" Serena called out for them. She ran back into the living room and found them on the floor. "You two!" Serena shouted. Both the boy and girl looked at her blankly. She wasn't sure what was going on, but they had to have done something! "You two need to go to bed now" Serena ordered. She led both of the children to their bedroom and shut the door. They could figure out how to sleep on a bed at least! Serena laid down on her bed and tried to get some shut-eye. A few hours had passed, and she felt an itchy feeling. It was a weird itchy like something was crawling on her skin. Serena shot up and kicked her blankets off. Her bed was crawling with roaches! She jumped out of bed and ran into the kid's room. As soon as she opened the door, a wave of roaches flooded out. The brief moment Serena looked into the room, she saw the kids. Their eyes looked dark, but it could just be the light! Serena screamed as she tried to crawl out of the roaches. But more roaches poured into her house. The sea of insects was slowly pulling her down. Serena couldn't stop flailing as she tried to grab something. Serena's hand gripped around the base of her lamp. She pulled herself up and saw tiny hands grab hers. "Kids! Help!" Serena called out. Her plea was cut short as she saw the black eyes of the kids. She was taken by surprise as she didn't register them prying her hand off the lamp. Serena screamed as she was swallowed by the sea of cockroaches.

The next day, Blair waited outside of the yellow tape. She had come to Serena's house to bring back the case files as promised. But when she arrived, the police had the house blocked off. They wouldn't let her in no matter how much she begged them. So, she waited, trying to see past the news stations and neighbors. Blair slipped past the tape as she saw something being wheeled out of the house. "Hey! Stop her!" an officer yelled as Blair made it to the gurney. On it was a thin skeletal body. She recognized the same hair tie that Serena always used. "Serena?!" Blair cried out as she was dragged back across the yellow tape. She fell into a heap of distraught as she put together the scene before her. Serena was dead. But how?! Why?! In all of Blair's life, she had never seen such an ailment. There was nothing to explain what had caused Serena to end up like that. Blair sat there until everyone had dispersed. What was she going to do now? There had to be a funeral, she had to contact Serena's family, there was so much to do. "Um, ma'am?" an emergency aid called out to her. Blair straightened up, bracing herself for whatever news would come. "These two were found unconscious in the home, we can't confirm if they are the victim's children or relatives" the aid explained. Blair looked down and saw two kids she didn't know. Serena didn't have any kids either. "Okay, I can watch them" Blair agreed. She was still out of it, so she mostly accepted it to get the aid of her back.

Blair looked at the children, both stared blankly at her. The kids must have been in shock, her moody attitude wasn't going to help them. "Uh, let's get some breakfast" Blair suggested. Although, her appetite was more than gone. She took the kids to the same dinner she had visited yesterday. They even sat at the same booth. Blair ordered the kids some pancakes and some coffee for herself. "So, what were you two doing at Serena's house?" she asked nervously. The boy and girl blinked at Blair. The shock must be settled in deep for them to not respond. Blair drummed her fingers on the table nervously. "You know what, not important" Blair decided to drop the subject. As much as she wanted to know what happened to her friend, she didn't want to scare the children. When the pancakes were placed on the table, neither child started to eat. It was a bit unnerving to watch them stare at the pancakes blankly. "Go ahead and eat, it's on me" Blair reassured them. But they continued to stare at their pancakes. Blair looked at her phone, fed up with the children. She would need to find a shelter for the kids. Blair was not going to take in children, that was a hard no. She found a good shelter nearby, and they were accepting kids. "Great news, I found a place you can stay" Blair began. Her voice died down as she saw the empty plates before her. She hadn't heard them move let alone eat, but the pancakes were missing.

"O... kay, as I was saying. You two are going to a shelter since I won't be taking you in" she continued. "Why not?" the boy asked. "I don't want to, that's why" Blair argued. "Serena took us in, you should too" the girl argued. Blair shook her head, she was putting her foot down. "You two aren't coming home with me and that is final," she said loudly. Both kids were quiet as Blair paid for the food. After they left, Blair took them directly to the shelter. She filled out the papers giving them over to the facility. "What are their names?" the attendant asked her. Blair blanked, she actually didn't know their names. "Hold on" she excused herself to talk to the kids. "Hey, what are your names," she asked. The kids stared at her before going back to playing with the blocks. Oh, it was going to be like that huh? Blair went back to the attendant. "I don't know their names but I'm sure once they warm up to you, they will tell you" she explained. The attendant looked puzzled but didn't press her for more details. Once the kids were signed over, Blair began to leave. "Don't you want to say goodbye?" the attendant asked. "Nope, bye" Blair rushed out. She wanted to forget those kids as soon as she could. She had more important things to worry about now with her best friend being dead. "They'll be better off on their own anyways" Blair sighed. She headed home quickly, she had to do some digging around to find out what happened to her friend. Blair returned to her quiet home and turned on the lights.

Her home was fairly plain, little furniture. She didn't bother getting any new furniture as her job had her in and out of her home. All she needed was enough to survive for the time she was there. Blair sat down on her couch and began going through her phone in search of any news on the recent death of her friend. There had to be something by now! No matter how much she looked, there was nothing reported yet. She tossed her phone on the couch and rolled over. There, she came eye to eye with the two children she left at the shelter. "Bwa! How did you get here?!" she screamed. The children stared at her, blinking occasionally. "Whatever, you are going back and that is it" Blair reached for her phone but it wasn't there. She looked around the couch, where did her phone go?! "Play with us" the girl demanded. "What?! No! Give me back my phone!" Blair reached out to grab the girl, but the couch collapsed under her. The cushions had sunken in as the coach broke from the bottom. Blair climbed out and noticed that the kids were gone again. Her lights had been dimmed and some of the furniture knocked over. "Okay, this is not funny!" she shouted. Blair stood up and went to her landline. She picked up the phone and tried dialing. The line was dead, dully beeping into her ear. "Play with us" she heard the boy's voice go through the phone. Blair dropped the phone and backed away. There was no other phone line in the house...

Blair broke out into a sweat, she had to get out of there! Blair ran to the door and tried the door. It was somehow sealed shut. The lock wouldn't move nor would the handle. She backed away, bracing herself against the wall. "Play with us, play with us, play with us" the voices kept chanting to her. "Fine! You want to play?!" Blair stood up. She grabbed her broom and walked into the hallway. For some reason, the hallway was longer than usual and darker. Blair wasn't sure what kind of trick those kids were playing but she was going to end it quick. She heard giggling in one room and pushed open the door. The room was empty, save for a chair in the middle of the room. She didn't have a room like this! Blair walked in, feeling the floor with her broom. She reached the chair and pushed it over. The chair fell back with a loud thunk, nothing happened. "What a bunch of crap" Blair turner around and walked back to the door. But there wasn't a door. "Huh?!" Blair backed up and tripped over the chair. She heard more giggling and stood back up. "Get out here! This isn't funny!" Blair demanded. The walls began to close in on her slowly. She put her broom on the walls to try and slow it down, but the broom split down the middle. "Let me out! Let me out!" she screamed as her body was crushed. The kids appeared in a small doorway, watching her body getting crushed. "Please!" Blair reached out for them. Their eyes blinked and revealed the black orbs in their heads. It was the last thing Blair saw before everything went dark.

The next morning, Blair's house was found full of blood. Her body was nowhere to be found but the blood was most likely hers. The police had come to the shelter to interview the attendant she spoke to, but the woman didn't have much to offer them. "She just dropped off those kids, nothing more and nothing less" she explained. The police didn't bother talking to the kids, they couldn't have known anything. While they were playing, a woman had come in looking to adopt kids. Lena saw the kid's profile and went to meet them. "Hello! I'm Lena" she greeted them. The kids stared at her without saying anything. Lena just giggled, she assumed they were nervous. It was odd not having their names, but she could work through it. She signed her forms and took the children's forms. She'd have to take them to get a physical exam, but that wasn't a problem. Lena was glad to welcome the children into the family. Lena was given a temp grant for the kids and was cleared to take them home. "Alright, I can't wait to show you two your rooms," she said as she showed them into her car. "Rooms?" the girl asked. "Yep, you each will have your own room and bed" Lena explained. "We sleep together," the boy said quietly. Lena could sympathize with them, but the law was the law. "Sorry, you'll have to learn to sleep separately," she told them. When Lena arrived at her home, she let the kids in and showed them to their rooms. "It isn't much, but we can go get toys later" she laughed.

The girl looked into her room but refused to enter. The boy gave a similar reaction. "We want a room together" they both said. "Sorry, I can't let you do that" she repeated to them. Lena didn't want to get too strict with them on the first day, but she wasn't going to let them have their way. Both kids looked at each other and then back at Lena. "You wouldn't want to make us angry" the girl warned. Lena felt a bit took back, was that a threat? "Or what?" she challenged. "Our friends won't like that" the boy warned. "Alright, well tell your friends that my friends won't like them threatening me," Lena said as she flipped her black hair over her shoulder. Two could play at that game. The kids opened their mouths and a hellish shriek left their bodies. Lena fell backward and covered her ears. She had never heard children scream like that before. She crawled down the hallway and into the living room. Lena stood up and braced herself against the wall, waiting for her ears to stop ringing. Her eyes adjusted to the lighting and she saw something in the window. Lena walked over and pulled the blinds back. Outside were about twenty children of various ages standing on her lawn. She screamed and closed the blinds. Lena grabbed her phone and began dialing the police. Before anyone picked up, the line went dead. "Aw come on!" she screamed and dropped the phone. She heard pounding at the door, hard enough to make the door rock on its hinges.

Lena ran to her room, covering her ears as she passed the still screaming children. She shut the door and jumped on her bed. Lena grabbed her cellphone and unlocked it. Her screen went dark before lighting up a grey image. The image had various children all with black eyes. In a panic, Lena threw her phone at the wall. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening," she told herself. This was all some sort of nightmare and she would wake up soon! Lena heard a soft knocking on her door. "Let us in" the voice of the boy demanded. "No! Stay out!" Lena shouted at them. The knocking stopped for a moment and Lena thought they had left. Then the knocking became pounding. "Let us in!" this time the voice was louder. Lena began crying, grabbing her blanket in fear. The voice began to sound more distorted and less human. Her lights began flickering and the closet door was rattling too. No matter what happened, Lena didn't get off the bed. Suddenly, everything stopped. She didn't dare move, let alone breathe. Then, she heard a crackling noise. It was distant but close as if coming from under the bed. That was when Lena saw the tiny hands crawling up the side of her bed. The door flew open and her closet doors opened. Her curtains fell down and the lights flickered wildly. Lena screamed, not knowing where to focus her fear on. The heads of various children emerged, black eyes and sunken mouths peered at her as they drew closer. Lena backed up as far as she could on the bed. She thought about taking a break for the door, but her body froze. In the doorway were the children she adopted, but it was what was behind them that made her stop. Large tall creatures that stretched to the ceiling were staring at her, as far as she could tell. Lena screamed the loudest she could before they closed in on her. The children laughing all the while.

**Ending**

The next day, the attendant came to Lena's house to see the children. She still had some forms to give Lena and couldn't reach her by phone. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. It was odd considering Lena's car was in the driveway. The attendant tried again before calling the police. She didn't want to risk anything, so she waited for the police to arrive. The officer knocked on the door in, and they looked inside. Nothing out of the ordinary, the house was the same as when the attendant first came to look. The officer instructed the attendant to wait while he looked over the area. They found no trace of the children, their rooms still untouched. But Lena's room was wide open. The officer went inside, the gun is drawn. He froze and dropped his gun when he was Lena's bed. On the bed was a body, but it looked like all the fluids had been removed from the body. The hair was brittle and white, looking more like straw than hair. The jaw of the corpse was stuck open in a silent scream. And worst of all, the eyes were missing. The officer immediately called for backup and told the attendant to leave. "B-but what about the kids?!" she asked. "What kids?!" the officer shouted. Neither of the adults noticed the two children standing at the corner of the street, staring down the road...


	14. Aka Manto (Red Cape)

**Story Summary**  
Transfer students Lena Kieran Luthor, Alexandra "Alex" Danvers, Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Cornelia Waldorf, and Charlene "Charlie" Bradbury transfer to Osaka Seikei Girls High from America. Due to them all being from America they become close friends, nearly almost always seen hanging out together.

 **Story**  
Charlie Bradbury walked to school, gazing at the cherry blossoms that fell ever so softly. She remembered hearing once that cherry blossoms fall 5 centimeters per second and couldn’t help but wonder if it was true.

“Charlie!”

Suddenly, she was pulled away from her inner musings, hearing a familiar voice call out to her. She grinned and looked over to where she saw Alexandra Danvers waving at her, Blair by her side. Charlie walked a little faster, catching up to the girls quickly.

“Hey,” She said once she reached them. Blair Cornelia Waldorf returned the greeting with a nod, Alex with a smile. Charlie noticed that the other two in their group weren’t there and looked around, wondering if maybe they had taken a little detour. “Where are Serena van der Woodsen and Lena Kieran Luthor?” She asked when she didn’t spot them.

“Serena and Lena?” Alex thought for a moment, looking to the cherry blossoms as if they might know. “They’re on classroom duties today, right?” Alex turned to look at Blair for confirmation.

“Yeah, I think so. Serena wasn’t there in the morning, saying she needed to go early.”

Alex and Lena lived together, being fairly close friends back in America. Neither girls were early risers so Blair and Serena, who also lived together, would stop by their apartment on the way to school, they lived in the same direction anyway, making sure that they all got to school on time. Charlie lived in the opposite direction of the school so they normally all met up on the way to school.

“Oh,” Charlie said softly. “That’s too bad. I wanted to tell you guys about an interesting rumor I heard.”

“Rumour?” Blair asked. She wasn’t really into rumors all that much but Charlie’s rumors tended to be interesting enough.

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded enthusiastically. “About the Seven Wonders,” Charlie clarified. “We don’t really have anything like this back in America so I thought you guys might be interested. Well, I say you guys but, really, I mean Blair and Serena.”

“What’s the Seven Wonders?” Alex asked. She still wasn’t all that familiar with Japanese culture, they’d only moved to Japan a few weeks ago after all.

“It’s really cool, it’s kinda like ghost stories that happen in the school,” Charlie explained. Blair perked up at the mention of ghost stories, she really enjoyed them after all, while Alex paled slightly. She was not a fan of scary things, ghost stories included.

“Yay,” Alex mumbled weakly.

“Don’t worry Alex, they’re not even that scary, they’re actually really cool,” Charlie said, trying to convince Alex that it wasn’t as bad as she imagined. “A couple of them aren’t even bad, they’re nice.”

“What are they?” Blair asked excitedly as they reached the school. Walking past the front gates Charlie looked around, seeing all the students slowly start to trickle in. Checking the time on her phone, noticing it was almost time for class to start, Charlie spoke.

“I’ll tell you guys at lunch, we’re gonna be late to class soon.” Blair pouted slightly but didn’t say anything while Alex sighed in relief. They headed to their shoe lockers, changing into their school shoes and heading to their classes. Charlie and Lena were in class 2A, Alex and Blair in class 2B, and Serena in class 2D.

Class went by fairly slowly for Charlie. She already knew what they were teaching, she wasn’t a genius who could hack into gaming companies at the age of twelve for nothing. She’d fallen asleep once or twice in Math and Modern Japanese, only to get yelled at both times and Charlie wished she was seated next to the window. At least that way she wouldn’t have to deal with the boringness of the English class. She was from America, English was her native language, why she would need to learn how to compose conversational sentences in English was beyond her.

Finally, after what felt like forever and a half, the bell rang and it was lunch break. She stood up quickly, grabbing her things and, after waiting for Lena to do the same, they headed to 2B to grab Alex and Blair, Serena meeting with them there.

“So, I heard you have some really cool ghost stories to share,” Serena said in lieu of a greeting.

“Nice to see you too Serena,” Charlie said. Serena grinned at her, waiting impatiently for Charlie to tell her the stories.

The girls grabbed their lunches from the cafeteria before heading to one of the many stairwells, Charlie choosing their spot for the day.

“Okay,” Charlie said after she took a bite of her yakisoba pan. “So, the Seven Wonders of Seikei are The Haunted Anatomical Doll, The Cursed Thirteenth Step, The Matchmaking Sakura Tree, The 12 o’clock Reaper, Amane of the Broadcasting Room, The 4 o’clock Library, and Aka Manto.” Charlie listed, holding up seven fingers and for each on she listed, she brought a finger down.

“Those don’t sound very pleasant,” Alex commented quietly, managing to get a laugh out of a few of the girls.

Charlie ate a couple more bites, washing down the sandwich with some milk. “The Haunted Anatomical doll is in the science wing, obviously, and rumor is, if you go to the school at night, sometimes, you can see the doll move all by itself. It’s almost never where people leave it the day before.”

Serena and Blair leaned in, excited to hear more. Alex paled a little more and started chanting to herself as she ate so she wouldn’t hear what Charlie was saying. Lena didn’t really care for ghost stories, not believing in ghosts, but she listened anyway.

Quickly finishing the rest of her bread and milk, Charlie continued her story. “The Cursed Thirteenth step is in the art hall. Pretty much, if you step on it at sunset it’s said that you’ll be transported to the spirit world. Apparently, once you step on it you never return.”

Looking at Serena, frowning when she saw that she wasn’t listening, Charlie tapped her on the shoulder and spoke. “You’ll like this one, Alex!” Alex gave her a skeptical look but paid attention to the story nonetheless.” The Matchmaking Sakura tree-” Charlie got cut off.

“Oh, I’ve heard this one.” Serena chirped. “It’s that sakura tree behind the gym, right?” Charlie nodded and Serena continued, all of the other girls’ attention shifting to her instead. “If you confess to the person you like by that tree when the flowers are in bloom, it’s said that your feelings will be returned for sure, I think.”

Serena perked up after hearing that one. It wasn’t too bad. Lena, Blair, and Charlie, not really being into the whole romantic thing, didn’t quite like that story but didn’t vocalize it.

“The 12 o’clock Reaper is a pretty cool one, in my opinion,” Charlie commented. “If you go to the school at midnight and hear the ringing of an old grandfather clock, it’s said that the Grim Reaper will come for your soul,” Charlie spoke in a scary voice.

“Only if you hear the ringing of an old grandfather clock?” Blair clarified.

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded.

“So, it just depends on your luck? Boring,” Serena said, stretching out the word.

Charlie was about to explain more about it when she noticed the time. She’d have to hurry with her storytelling or she wouldn’t get to finish.

“So, the next one, Amane of the Broadcasting Room is kinda interesting. If you hear her when she’s talking on the broadcast you’ll die at four o’clock. If you only see her, then you’ll get extremely sick for four days. They say a girl died there 20 years ago and her ghost can’t move on so she kills others so they become his friends instead.” Charlie explained hurriedly.

“The 4 o’clock library is another cool one, that Alex’ll like,” Alex, who had looked down, pale in the face from the previous story, looked up at Charlie, a little color returning to her cheeks.

“I know this one,” Lena cut it. Charlie looked over at her, allowing her to say the story. “If you go to the back of the library at 4, you can see a man just standing there. If you go up to him and wish for something, no matter what it is, the man will grant it.” The other girls started chattering about what they would wish for when Lena spoke again.

“But,” The girls silenced themselves, giving Lena their attention again. “In return, the man will take something precious to you. Like your eyesight, or your memories or something,”

“Well, that kinda sucks,” Charlie spoke, not knowing about this part of the rumor.

“Yeah,” Lena agreed.

“Anyways, the Seventh Wonder of Seikei High is Aka Manto,” Charlie said, bringing them back on topic. Just as she was about to continue the bell rang, effectively cutting her off. “Damn,” Charlie muttered. “I’ll tell you guys about it later I guess,” Charlie said as she got up, brushing herself off.

But Charlie never got the chance to, having forgotten all about it after a fire broke out in the third-floor bathrooms.

Six months passed by quietly, the girls all but forgetting about the ghost stories in favor of studying for exams, having fun and going home for the summer break, returning back again in September, and meeting up with friends they hadn’t seen over the break.

Finally, it was October. Charlie’s favorite month. All of the best LARPing events happened in October. But, of course, she couldn’t attend any of them as she was in Japan. She felt sad but let it go.

“Hey, Charlie!” One of the girls in her class, Yamazaki, if she wasn’t mistaken, called out to her. She looked up at her, a questioning look on her face.

“What is it?” Her Japanese wasn’t perfect, not quite sounding like a native Japanese, but it was understandable. ‘Thank you, younger me, for watching anime for years.’ Charlie thought to herself.

“We were all talking and decided we wanted to have a test of courage. It’s a couple of kids from every second-year class.” He informed her. “You wanna join?” She offered.

Charlie couldn’t help but be excited at the prospect. It sounded like a lot of fun. Plus, she’d always wanted to have a test of courage. Every high school anime she’d ever watched had one. “Sure!” She agreed almost immediately. “Can I invite a few friends?” She asked.

“Sure,” Yamazaki shrugged.

“Great!” She bounced over to Lena asking her if she wanted to participate. When Lena agreed Charlie squealed in joy, shooting a quick text to the other three American girls to see if they also wanted to join. Alex was a bit reluctant but she agreed after enough pestering from the three ghost story loving girls.

Then she realized she didn’t even know when they planned to have their test of courage or where it was going to take place. She scanned the classroom, finding students milling about before class started, looking for one girl in particular.

Eventually, she found her somewhere in the back of the classroom, hanging out with two other girls, and walked over to her.

“Hey, Yamazaki,” She called out to gain her attention. The three girls looked over at her before Yamazaki spoke.

“Are you talking to me?” She said, pointing to herself. When Charlie nodded Yamazaki gave her an awkward smile. “My name’s Kendou,” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Charlie blushed. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Kendou! I’m still having trouble remembering names but I can’t believe I got your name wrong!” She covered her face with her hands, embarrassed.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Kendou let out an awkward yet kind laugh. “Anyways, what did you wanna talk to me about?” Kendou gratefully changed the subject.

Charlie removed her hands from her face, face still a light pink color. “I was just wondering when the test of courage was,” Charlie explained after clearing her throat. “Oh, and where,”

Kendou thought for a moment before replying. “Two weeks from now, on October 31st, at the school. We were all gonna meet up at 10 pm.”

“Thank you,” Charlie said politely. “Sorry again,” She called out as she walked away, back to Lena’s desk. She took the chair from the desk in front of Lena, sinking into it. She groaned and Lena looked over at her.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I made myself look like a fool.” When Lena gave her a look to go on Charlie continued. “I called Kendou Yamazaki instead. They don’t even sound remotely similar,” Charlie groaned again and Lena just patted her on the head, not knowing what to say to the redhead.

“There is some good news from my embarrassment though,” Charlie said, trying to be positive. “I found out that the test of courage is on Halloween, at the school at 10.” Charlie texted said details to the rest of their friends.

The next two weeks passed by in a blur for Charlie, too excited for the test of courage. On Halloween, she got dressed quickly, wanting to get to school early. She didn’t want to get detention because she was late again. For the past three days, she’d been too excited to sleep, resulting in her oversleeping in the morning.

She ran to school, pleased to find out that she had reached 20 minutes early. Heading to her class, she hummed princess Laya’s theme. After almost 10 minutes Lena entered the classroom, shocked to find Charlie already there.

“You’re unnaturally early,” She commented as she sat down in the seat.

“I was too excited to sleep,” Charlie shrugged. The girls fell into an amicable silence and just watched as students slowly and steadily headed to class.

10 pm came slowly for Charlie, the class had dragged on for what felt like hours, but, finally, they could do the test of courage.

“Hey, there you girls are, we were thinking of going without you,” One of the girls, Yamauchi Charlie thinks, said.

“Sorry, we took a little longer getting ready then we’d originally expected,” Lena apologized in perfect Japanese.

“Well, it’s okay,” Kendou brushed the topic aside. “The main thing is you’re here now.”

“What are we doing for the test of courage?” Alex asked.

“There’s a rumor going around the school lately,” A girl by the name of Kanazaki explained. “About a ghost in the music room. You just gotta head there and take a picture of it. Simple enough, right?”

“Sounds like fun!” Charlie exclaimed. “Then, I’ll go with-”

“But,” Kanazaki cut her off, “You have to go by yourself.”

“Oh,” Blair said, interested in the idea.

“Who’s going first?” Lena asked.

“Alex,”

After a lot of convincing, they finally got Alex to go into the school, terrified and shaking.

Alex walked slowly, not wanting to go to the music room. “Maybe I should hide out in the bathroom for a bit, then say that the ghost wasn’t in the music room,” She thought to herself. Deciding that that was a good idea she turned around and walked the opposite direction of the music room, to the last stall of the girls’ bathroom on the second floor.

She sat down on the seat, pulling out her phone so she could text her sister.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” A loud voice boomed. Startled, she dropped her phone, letting it fall onto her lap.

A man appeared before her, wearing a yellow mask, and a red cape, effectively hiding any and all skin from showing. She stood up, terrified, and she could hear her phone clatter against the tiles.

“Who are you?” She spoke, voice wavering.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” The man said instead of answering.

Hoping that it was just a prank she decided to pick a color. She picked blue, it reminded her of Kara.

“Blue… blue paper,” She picked.

The man came closer to her and only then did she notice that he was floating. She tried to take a step back but was unable to, the toilet taking up any space to move she would have had.

He touched her forehead and, suddenly, Alex couldn’t breathe. No matter how much she gasped and struggled, clawing at her throat and chest she couldn’t breathe. The man removed his mask, revealing a handsome young man’s face, but what stood out the most about this man was his smile and eyes.

He had soulless dead eyes, his smile psychotic, taking pleasure in seeing her on the ground, writhing in pain, unable to breathe.

Alex swore if she got out of here alive, she would never be able to look someone in the eyes again, his eyes terrifying her beyond belief. Black spots danced in her vision, eventually overtaking her sight altogether, and she was glad. If she passed out she wouldn’t feel the agony of her lungs burning for air.

“She’s been gone for a while now,” Serena couldn’t help but notice. “You think we should go look for her?” She looked at Blair, worried about their friend.

“Yeah, that might be a good idea,” Kanazaki said.

“Then, I’ll go looking for her with Charlie,” Lena stated.

Charlie looked over, not exactly opposed to the idea but confused as to why she was being volunteered to go without her consent. “Okay,” She said instead of voicing her thoughts. She was sure the look on her face said more than enough.

They walked into the school, heading up the stairs to the music room, looking carefully at the poorly lit stairwell as they called out their friend’s name.

“Alex!” Charlie yelled. “Where are you?”

Suddenly, Lena stopped.

“What’s wrong Lena?” Charlie said, stopping and turning around to face her friend.

“I was thinking, Alex is a scaredy-cat, there’s a chance she didn’t even go to the music room.” Charlie had to admit, it was a very real possibility. “You head to the music room, see if you can find her, I’ll head this way,” Lena said, pointing in the other direction.

“Alright,” Charlie nodded. The two girls headed their separate ways, calling out to their missing friend the whole time.

Lena wasn’t scared, she was a Luthor after all. Things like ghosts didn’t scare her. She walked down the hallways, shoes clicking against the hard floor, echoing all around her. She checked all the classrooms she passed by, hoping that Alex was in one of them, growing more and more worried with each classroom she didn’t appear in. How would she explain it to Kara if Alex went missing?

She got to the end of the hall and sighed, she wasn’t anywhere on that side of the second floor, but then she remembered there was a bathroom there. ‘Maybe Alex went there!’ She thought to herself, running to the bathroom.

“Alex,” She called out once she reached her destination. When she didn’t get an answer she turned around to leave, a sigh escaping her lips but then she noticed something peeking out from one of the stalls. Alex’s phone.

“So you are here,” Lena said out loud, walking towards the end stall where she saw the phone. Knocking on the stall, wondering why Alex wasn’t talking to her, she frowned in concern when she found out the stall wasn’t locked. “I’m coming in,” She warned, pushing the door open.

A scream got stuck in Lena’s throat as she saw the body of her friend lay still on the ground, lips dark blue, eyes wide open, scared, hands gesturing as if she had been clawing at her chest. She kneeled down, scared and freaking out, bringing her hands up to shake Alex but freezing still.

A man who Lena definitely remembered wasn’t there earlier was now sitting on top of the toilet one leg bent up so he could rest one of his arms on his knee, red cape draping over the toilet bowl, reminding Lena of blood.

“Help, something’s wrong with my friend,” She pleaded to the man. It didn’t matter to her right now that she hadn’t seen him earlier.

“Sure,” Lena thanked every deity, pulling out her phone to tell the rest of her friends to come help as well. “But first, do you want red paper or blue paper?”

“What?” Lena asked. What would something stupid like that matter at a time like this? Alex was injured, or worse, dead, and this man was asking what color paper she wanted?

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” The man repeated his question.

“That doesn’t matter right now! Help me with Alex!” When the man didn’t say anything Lena sighed in frustration. “If I answer, will you help me?” She asked. Again the man didn’t answer. “Fine, blue paper,” Lena answered without much thought, just wanting the man to help her.

The man got up off of the toilet, lifting one hand up. Lena was weary of the man but didn’t think too much of it, thinking he was just going to help her now. She focused back on Alex, shaking her again, praying she would just wake up already.

The hand he’d lifted grabbed her neck. Startled, she struggled, trying to get away from him, wondering what the hell the man was doing. In her struggle, she managed to knock off the man’s mask, terrified to see a crazy smile with matching crazy eyes plastered on his face.

“I tried a new method with that one over there but of course, it’s always more fun to do it myself,” The man said, and Lena, through her pounding head, begging for oxygen, she could help but wonder whether he was talking to himself or to her. She could feel her nails break as she clawed at the man’s hand, trying to get him to let go, pain bursting in her fingertips.

Her head was pounding, her hands hurting, lungs aching and Lena couldn’t take it anymore. She fell unconscious.

At the sound of their phones ringing at the same time, Serena and Blair checked their notifications. Considering the circumstances, it was probably one of the girls telling them that they’d found Alex or something equally relieving.

Something’s wrong with Alex

Come to the second-floor girls’ bathroom

Serena and Blair looked at each other, concerned, and told the others waiting with them that they were going to go inside to look as well.

“Okay,” Yukimura said.

The girls headed in, not very scared but very worried, running up the stairs.

“What do you think happened?” Serena asked Blair.

“Maybe she got hurt,” Blair suggested.

As they continued their hurried walk to the girls’ bathroom they bumped into Charlie.

“What are you doing here, Charlie? Weren’t you with Lena?” Blair questioned.

“We were and then we split up. Lena thought Alex might not have been in the music room. Guess she was right,” Charlie said even as they continued their trek to the bathroom.

Almost 5 minutes later they made their way into the bathroom, they weren’t too familiar with the school yet, they didn’t know where the bathroom was, and they called out to Lena and Alex.

When neither girl answered they wondered if maybe they had left but decided to be thorough and check the stalls anyways.

“Ahhh!” Serena screamed, knees getting weak and falling down. Charlie and Blair ran over to her.

“What’s wrong Serena?” Charlie asked.

Serena pointed at the stall, too shocked to speak. Charlie and Blair looked over, terrified with what they saw. Blair rushed over to see if maybe they were still alive, bursting into tears when she found they weren’t. Charlie fumbled with her phone, hands shaking, as she called the police.

Finding she was unable to get reception in the bathroom she got up. “I- I’m gonna go and- and get the police. There’s no reception here,” She sniffed, wiping her tears as she left the room.

“O-okay,” Serena called out behind her, tears still streaming down her face. Looking back at her friends’ bodies she found she couldn’t stand being there for even a second longer. “I- I’ll go w-with you,” She looked at Blair apologetically but Blair just gave her a sympathetic smile.

Serena ran out of the bathroom, following Charlie.

Blair, now alone with only the bodies of her friends’ to keep her company, stood up. She rubbed her eyes, hoping to get rid of her tears. She wasn’t very successful though as her eyes became watery again. Walking around in the bathroom, wringing her hands, she looked in the mirror to see her friends again.

But this time, it wasn’t just her friends she saw behind her. A man with a billowing red cape appeared behind her, looking down at the bodies of her friends.

Blair turned around, her surprise showing in her eyes. “Who are you? How did you get in here?” The man couldn’t have been a student from their school, he didn’t have the build of a highschooler.

The man lifted his head and Blair couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down her spine. He stared at her for a good couple of seconds and just as Blair was about to ask him again he spoke.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” His voice was loud, it echoed along the walls.

“Huh?” Was her eloquent reply. She decided she really didn’t like this guy and moved to leave but found herself unable to. Her feet wouldn’t move.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” He asked again, walking closer to her.

She tried to lift her legs, try and get out of the room, but she couldn’t and the man just kept getting closer with each step he took. Hoping the man would leave her alone she answered she spoke.

“Red paper,” She hoped that was the right answer, Blair assumed that the man liked the color considering his cape was a blood-red color.

Then the man stopped, much to Blair’s relief. He reached into his pocket and Blair was a little concerned but didn’t think too much of it. But when he pulled his hand back out and Blair saw the knife in his hand she struggled to get away even harder than before.

The man continued the short walk to her, and Blair couldn’t help but feel like he was taking his own sweet time to let Blair panic a little more. He finally reached her and Blair was a mess. She kept begging him to not hurt her, to just let her go, but he didn’t listen. He lifted his knife and Blair clenched her eyes shut.

Pain exploded in her shoulder and she cried out in pain, continuing her pleas. But, of course, he didn’t listen, only continued to stab her. She opened her eyes in a sort of morbid fascination, she couldn’t feel the pain anymore, her arm had gone numb.

Her shoulder was gone, the man had started hacking at the other arm before she watched as it too fell to the floor. She looked back at the man, seeing his mask splattered with blood, her blood, the knife he held glinting in the lights of the bathroom before it came down on her jugular. She started to choke on her blood, blood spilling all over her clothes and the floor before her knees collapsed and she fell to the ground, the blackness of death closing in around her.

Serena walked back into the bathroom, calling out to Blair. “Charlie said the police will be here in about half an hour. She went to go tell the others what happened, she’ll be back up in a bit,” She kept her eyes firmly placed on the floor, not wanting to see the dead bodies of her friends. A red liquid entered her line of vision and, confused as to what caused it, she lifted her gaze to see the carnage around her.

Her knees gave out and she fell in the pool of blood, her shoes, which were slowly starting to get soaked, making a ‘squish’ sound.

Tears fell from her eyes, sobs escaping her lips. She blinked once and a man appeared before her.

“Wh- who’re you?” She stuttered.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” He said, answering her question with a question of his own.

“Wh- what?” She replied.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” He asked again.

“R-red, I guess?” She asked, not really thinking straight due to all the trauma she’d gone through in the past hour.

The man pulled out a knife and Serena, thoroughly freaked out, tried to escape but her body froze from the terror. He brought the knife down, again and again and again, until finally Serena stopped squirming, stopped moving altogether.

Charlie, who’d gone to explain what had happened to Alex and Lena, was not expecting to see this. The bathroom, which had been an offwhite color before, was now dyed red with Serena and Blair’s blood, body parts were strewn about. She didn’t know if horror movies were quite as bad as what she saw. She ran into the nearest stall and puked her lunch and dinner out.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” She heard just as she was flushing the toilet. She turned around, almost giving herself whiplash, and saw a man in a mask.

“No way,” Charlie uttered, equal parts astonished and terrified out of her mind. “You’re Aka Manto,” She whispered.

“Do you want red paper or blue paper?” He said, confirming Charlie’s suspicions.

Not liking either option Charlie racked her brain for a second, knowing she’d heard about a way to survive. “Neither,” She said firmly after a moment.

“Neither?” He repeated.

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded. “Neither.” And just like that Aka Manto disappeared, almost like he was just a figment of Charlie’s imagination, but the carnage around her told another story.

**Ending**

It had been almost a month since the death of four of Osaka Seikei Girls High’s transfer students, the fifth transfer student had gone back to America not too long after.

Lex Luthor, upon finding out what had happened, had tried to sue the Japan Woman Only Highschool. Eventually, after a lot of convincing from his whole family (Lillian and Lionel) and Charlie, he’d dropped the charges. It didn’t quite make sense to Charlie, Lex, and Lena weren’t particularly close, but then again, she thought, it wouldn’t look too good if he didn’t do anything after his half-sister was brutally murdered in another country.

Eliza Danvers and Kara Danvers were broken after what happened. Eliza had fallen ill from the depression that followed the news of Alex’s death. They had always been a tight-knit family, the death of Jeremiah only bringing them closer.

“Hey, how are you guys?” Charlie called out as she entered the house. She checked on them twice a week just to make sure they were okay.

“We’re good,” Kara sniffed, wiping her tears before setting the last dish on a tray to send to her mother. She never ate anything but Kara thought she would try.

“Well, that’s good,” Charlie said uncertainly. She knew they weren’t but if Kara said they were she’d believe her.

Serena’s family, similar to Alex’s family, was also not taking the death of their daughter, sister, and granddaughter well. Eric had taken a break from school, not feeling up to leaving their house. Almost a week after the news had reached them, William had found Eric in his room, cutting himself. The family was distraught, not knowing how to handle what had happened. It had taken another two weeks for them to return to an almost normal state, Eric becoming a bit more reclusive.

Blair’s family hadn’t taken the death of their daughter well. Harold had returned to the Waldorf, now turned Rose, a household with his husband to pay his respects to his daughter. The tensions in the household rose with the reappearance of Harold and Roman, and Cyrus, not being very close with Blair, didn’t know how to feel on the matter. Aaron, having had a crush on his stepsister, had cried a lot. Elanor had sobbed for days on end, not leaving her bedroom, before, one day, she just came out of the room, pretending nothing had ever happened. The rest of the family had been worried for Elanor but, after their concerns kept getting brushed off by Elanor, they decided to ignore the matter.

Charlie, even though she considered herself to be a fairly brave person, wasn’t able to go to public bathrooms after the horrible events of October 31st. Her mother, who had awoken from her coma almost a week ago, was terrified for her, clearly seeing that her daughter was still stuck in her head, reliving those events over and over. She wanted to talk to her about it but every time she approached the topic Charlie would change the subject or leave, so, not having any other option, let Charlie continue the way she was, her heartbreaking every time she saw her daughter lose a little piece of herself as the days went by.


	15. Kuchisake Onna

**Summary**  
After finding out about a string of very peculiar deaths, Charlene ‘Charlie’ Bradbury, Dean Winchester, and Samuel ‘Sam’ William Winchester go to hunt down the creature responsible, travelling all the way to Japan to do so.

**Story**

Dean Winchester and Samuel ‘Sam’ William Winchester returned to their motel room, take out in hand. They hadn't really been feeling like eating with others around that day, Dean being a little jittery. Sam had respected that his brother, for as much as he said he was alright, was not all that okay. And that was fine with Sam. Dean had gone through a lot in his short life. Well, it wasn't very short anymore, the man was already 34 years old, but still, he'd gone through so much more than anyone else could say that they had.

Dean had basically had to raise Sam from the moment their mother had died because, if Sam was to be completely honest, John was too blinded by his sorrow and need for vengeance that he wasn't able to focus on things like he had a 6-month-old and a 4-year old that needed him.

Then, he'd been trained to hunt down monsters of all kinds before he even turned 9 years old. He hadn't been given a normal childhood, always having had to take care of Sam.

He'd even gone to Hell to be tortured for Sam, saying that he wasn't supposed to be alive, that his life could mean something if he gave it up for Sam. It made Sam sick to think that his brother hadn't thought his life meant something before then. Hell, his brother had gone to Purgatory! Hundreds of creatures that they'd killed, including the Leviathans, were all there, waiting to rip him apart, to get revenge.

But still, even through everything he'd gone through, his brother had never once turned into a cruel coldhearted person. That was more Sam's thing anyway.

"Sam?"

It wasn't fair that his brother had to go through so much.

"Sammy?"

Honestly speaking, Sam didn't deserve a brother like Dean.

"Sammy, you alright?" Dean placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, effectively snapping him out of his reverie.

"What?" Sam looked at Dean, a slightly confused look on his face.

"You look kinda out of it." Dean gazed at him like he was searching for something. "Did you get  any sleep last night?"

Sam had, it just wasn't very much. That wasn't why he was so out of it, though. Rather, he'd been worried for his brother, worried that  Dean wouldn't be able to sleep. Dean had recently gotten nightmares, ones that forced Sam to wake up, worry about what was wrong, and, on the odd occasion, Sam would even see Dean sleepwalk.

It wasn't something he'd ever done before, but considering the stressful situations his older brother had been through recently, Sam didn't think that it was fair of him to judge. He'd just been worried that he'd wake up one day to find that Dean wasn't there. It was stupid, Sam knew, but with how he'd parted with his brother on the odd occasion that they did go their separate ways, and what normally happened to either, if not both Winchester boys when they did, it left Sam feeling like it might have been better if they just didn't split up.

"I'm fine, Dean, I got enough sleep too." Sam gave what he hoped was a comforting smile to the older man, and Dean sighed in return.

"Let's eat," Dean placed the bag of takeout on one of the motel's stiff, uncomfortable beds and sat next to it. He pulled out the boxes from inside the plastic bag, balancing one precariously on his knees while he handed the other one to Sam. Without waiting for Sam to even sit down, Dean started shovelling food into his mouth, and Sam sighed.

Placing his take out beside him on the bed, Sam grabbed his laptop. He didn't want to eat at the moment, too busy thinking about the trials. Dean noticing this, commented, food still in his mouth.

"Why aren't you eating?"

Sam sighed, choosing not to answer. Instead, he rubbed his forehead with one hand, still clicking away on his laptop with the other.

Dean sighed in return, looking back at his burger, and going to take another bite when Sam spoke.

"Hey Dean, look at this," He turned the screen around so Dean could see what he was looking at. On the laptop were multiple tabs, all overlapping each other, showing the same thing, a small town with over a hundred deaths in the past thirty years. All of them were strange, unnatural deaths.

"Over the past thirty years, there's been around a hundred deaths, all by either being cut in half or stabbed repeatedly with something the locals are speculating to be scissors. There's only been one survivor so far, and he was admitted into an institution after." Sam explained. "It's in Japan, and I know you don't like flying, but it'd be good to get out of the USA sometimes." 

Dean considered it for a moment, taking another bite of his burger. "It could just be a psychopath," He finally said after a long moment of silence.

"Except, the boy that survived said the woman vanished after carving a smile into his face," Sam rebutted.

Dean looked down for a second, still contemplating the potential case in front of him. Finally, he sighed and got up. "Let's go," He grabbed his father's old leather jacket, pulling it on, and packed his things. There hadn't been much to do, the Winchester boys never really unpacked their things in motels.

While Dean finished grabbing his things, Sam went to his laptop, getting tickets for a flight to Japan using one of their realized Fake Hillary Clinton’s credit cards. This one was named Hillary Clinton.

Only five minutes later, the boys were loading their stuff into the trunk of the Impala, and then they were sitting in the car. As usual, Dean was driving while Sam sat shotgun, looking through the articles once more.

"Any idea what it could be?" Dean glanced at his brother, a slightly curious look on his face.

"No, not yet," Sam rubbed his eyes with one hand. "Maybe once we get there, it'll be easier to figure out,"

Dean looked back at the road, and the car fell into an uncomfortable silence. Dean reached over, flicking on the radio with one hand. AC/DC blared through the car, making Sam's headache.

He reached to turn down the volume, and Dean slapped his hand away without even looking at him.

"You know, if you're going to be blasting music, you could at least make it a good song." Maybe Sam's grumbling would have been more effective if it hadn't been for the fact that he'd been smiling as he spoke.

Things had been awkward between the boys for a while now, though Sam couldn't figure out why exactly. It felt like things were back to normal for a while.

When he saw his brother's hardened eyes staring at the road ahead, Sam knew something was wrong. "Dean," He called out, gaining his brother's attention.

"Hmm," Dean glanced at him for a second before turning back to the road, showing that he was paying attention to Sam.

"What wrong?" Sam couldn't do anything to help his brother if he didn't even know what the problem was. Distantly, Sam wondered if this was how Dean had felt when he'd gone around drinking demon blood.

Though Sam would never say it to his brother, there were occasionally times where Sam would crave it again. His skin would itch, and he would feel hypersensitive. His head would pound, and, on the odd occasion that they were fighting a demon while Sam had one of his fits, his mouth would water, and Sam could see the blood pulsating in their veins. He would never  ever drink demon blood again, though, not if he could help it. The detoxing was too painful for him. Going through it twice had been more than enough for a lifetime for Sam.

"Nothing," Dean cleared his throat, breaking Sam out of his reverie. The elder of the Winchester brothers blinked twice before elaborating. "Just thinking,"

Because that was so helpful to Sam. "About?" He said, trying to prompt his brother to continue.

Dean didn't answer for a long while, the only noise in the car was the blaring of one of Dean's favourite songs; Traveling Riverside Blues.

"Bobby," Dean hadn't looked at Sam as he spoke, instead choosing to keep his eyes glued to the road.

Sam felt his heart sink a little. Bobby had been like a second father to the boys, had always been there for them, especially when John had died. Sam could even remember a time when he was younger, not too long after he'd just found out about creatures that went bump in the night, and John had dropped Sam off at Bobby's house. Their father had been going to hunt a black dog and decided to take Dean with him for training.

Sam had been worried for Dean and his father, and no matter what Bobby had done, he couldn't shake off his worry. It wasn't for nothing either as when John and Dean had returned to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, Dean was covered in blood, large gashes ripping across his chest.

They hadn't managed to kill the black dog, and after making sure that Dean wouldn't bleed out, John had gone to finish the job, ignoring the way Dean had called out for him. Bobby had stayed up with Sam that night, comforting the Winchester brothers with quiet whispers that, now that Sam looked back on it, were complete lies.

It was something that his father hadn't done for him in a long time, not since that time he'd woken him up in the middle of the night by yelling at Dean, Sam feeling unnaturally sluggish.

It made Sam almost wish for a moment that Bobby had been his father instead of John.

"He would have known what this thing is," Dean continued softly.

Occasionally, Sam wondered how Dean handled it all. All of the death they saw, the sheer number of people that got hurt once they got close to the Winchesters. Sam didn't handle it well. The demon blood had proved that. And more often than not, the people that died, the ones that were close friends of the Winchesters, were closer to his older brother.

It might have been that Dean was just more charismatic than Sam, as much as Sam had hated it as a kid Dean always had been, or that Sam just didn't want anything to do with hunters or the supernatural. It also could have been that Dean was older and much more mature than him. Whatever the reason was though, people seemed to gravitate to his brother, they had enjoyed being in his presence more even if they tried not to show it around Sam.

But then, Sam realized, Dean never really was good at coping, was he? He would either drink, self-destruct when he thought Sam wasn't looking, or he would go out for revenge. On some rare occasions, it would be a mix of all three.

Sam looked down. "Yeah," Part of Sam didn't want to talk anymore, if only to avoid this particular conversation, but then he remembered someone else good with information. "We could try calling Charlene ‘Charlie’ Bradbury," He suggested.

Sam watched out of the corner of his eye as Deam perked up slightly at the mention of the redhead. It would have stung a little, seeing as how the two brothers were being somewhat awkward around each other for whatever reason, but Sam just wanted Dean to be happy. After spending a year in Purgatory, his brother wasn't the same.

"You have her number?" Dean asked.

"She gave her number to you, didn't she?"

Dean thought for a moment, trying to remember whether or not she had, before pulling out his phone from his pocket. "I can't remember. Look through the contacts."

And so Sam did just that. He looked through his brother's contacts, rolling his eyes at the number of girl's names he had. Sam's eyes lingered a little longer than the others when he saw a few names he recognized.

Their mother happened to be one of them.

Sam's head shot up, looking at his brother for a brief second, then back at their old house number from back when they lived in Kansas. It was probably more sentimental than anything seeing as how Dean had been four when the house had burned and they'd left, but he was still surprised. Part of Sam wondered if the number worked or if Dean ever called it.

Scrolling through the phone a little longer, Sam found Charlie's number. She picked up on the second try.

"Hey, what's up?" Charlie's voice filtered through.

"Um, Charlie," He said. "This is Sam Winchester,"

"Oh, hey Sam, what's up?" She repeated.

"Do you think you could do us a favour?"

"Depends," Charlie replied. "Does it involve me breaking an arm?"

Sam laughed for a second before answering. "No, uh, we're on a hunt, and we need help with research." Sam looked over at Dean for a quick second, studying his brother's expression though he didn't know why.

"Yeah, I can do that for you guys, no problem," Sam could hear something like rustling on the other side of the call. He could almost imagine Charlie nodding her head. 

Sam quickly went on to explain what they knew about the case, and Charlie fell silent.

"Charlie?" He called out, wondering whether or not the call disconnected.

"You guys aren't talking about Shirakawa in the Gifu prefecture of Japan, are you?" She asked, voice taking on a slightly strange tone.

Sam was taken aback. "Yeah," He said after a second. "How did you know?"

"Well, long story short, I decided to try out hunting, and I'm in Shirakawa now,"

That certainly wasn't Sam was expecting.

"Huh," Was his eloquent response. "Well, I guess we'll just meet you there?" Though it was a statement, the way Sam's voice lilted towards the end made it sound like a question.

"Um, yeah, I guess," Charlie sounded as though she was distracted by something. "I'll talk to you later, bye dude," She hung up without giving Sam a chance to reply. Sam lowered his hand away from his ear, staring at his phone for a good five seconds before relaying the new information to his brother.

"Charlie's hunting down the same thing we are,"

Dean looked at Sam for a brief second. "What? Why?"

"Said she wanted to try out hunting," Sam informed the older Winchester.

Dean's face scrunched up for a brief second like he couldn't understand why Charlie would ever want to do something like that, and Sam couldn't help but agree with his brother.

The two Winchesters had been forced into that life without their consent, they were victims of circumstance, they couldn't understand why Charlie would willingly put herself in a situation like that. It just didn't make any sense to them. Sam would have done anything to get away from this life when he was younger. Hell, he had! He'd gone to Stanford even when John had said he wouldn't let Sam back into their lives if he left.

He'd only been brought back into the hunting life because Jessica died. If she hadn't, he probably would have just gotten married to her after finishing university, maybe even sooner. He would have had an 'apple pie life' as Dean liked to say.

Even if at times he hated hunting more than anything, missed Jessica more than words could express, even if thinking about her hurt most days, he was so glad he'd gone back to hunting. Remembering how many people he saved daily made it easier to go to bed at night, gun tucked under his pillow.

It wasn't the greatest life, the hunting life was something he wouldn't wish on anybody, but sometimes, it felt worth it. He could, to some extent, understand why Charlie would want to hunt. The look on her face when she realized she'd helped others, done something that, even if no one thanked her for, had  saved lives , it was something precious.

He remembered Dean once said that Charlie was like a little sister he'd never wanted, and Sam couldn't help but think it was true. She was a lot like the Winchester brothers, even if she was much geekier than either of them would ever be.

Reaching the airport after another 30 Hours passed in awkward silence, Sam could see Dean crack the fingers of one hand, a nervous tick of his brother's.

"Relax Dean," Sam said, though he didn't think it would do much good.

Dean didn't say anything, just made a face as they walked to the check-in desk. Sam got everything sorted out, and in a couple of minutes, Dean and Sam were waiting for their flight. Sam had purposely booked a later flight just so that they could be on the safe side.

Almost another passed, Dean trying to calm his nerves in a way that reminded Sam of back when his brother was 26, and Sam trying to look up more about the case. He didn't find much online; he'd just have to hope that the locals knew more about the case then they were letting on.

Getting on the plane itself hadn't been too hard, though Dean had started to mutter songs to himself when they'd sat down. Every movement of the plane had left him feeling jittery, and Sam almost wanted to laugh. As a kid, it didn't seem like anything had scared his brother, and he'd really admired that, but it seemed that, at the end of the day, his brother was still human, and things still scared him.

It took them almost a day before they finally reached their destination, and Dean looked like he'd gone to hell and back when they finally got off the plane. Standing on wobbly feet, Dean looked happier than Sam had ever seen him.

"Ground, sweet, sweet ground,"

Sam laughed and picked up their duffel bags. They couldn't take any weapons like knives or anything with them, but they disassembled their shotguns so that they could take them with them. They'd also packed holy water, gasoline, silver chains, rock salt, salt, they always needed salt, flashlights, matches, flare guns, lockpick kits and tasers. They'd taken everything in the trunk that wouldn't be too suspicious with them.

Heading out of the airport, they went to go find a taxi, getting one after almost ten minutes of looking, paying with the same credit card that he'd paid for the tickets with.

Tossing their duffel bags between them in the back seat, they gave the taxi driver the address of where they wanted to go in English. It took him a minute to process, but Sam was just thankful he understood where they wanted to go. He'd have to work on his Japanese on the way to Shirakawa.

They finally made it to Shirakawa after another 10 minutes. Trying to find a motel had been a little harder than expected, the small town of 1,630 people didn't get many outsiders. After a little searching, the Winchester brothers finally found a motel, Guesthouse KEI, and, unsurprisingly, Charlie was staying there too. They ended up taking the room next to her, and after they had dumped their duffel bags on their beds, they heard a knock on the door.

Having a feeling it was Charlie, but not being entirely sure, Dean placed a hand on the gun under his waistband and looked out of the peephole. It must have been Charlie or someone else Dean was expecting because Dean let his hand fall from the gun and swung the door open.

"What's up bitches?"

Charlie hugged Dean before walking past him into the room, a messenger bag thumping against her leg as she sat on one of their beds.

"Hi, Charlie," Sam said.

Charlie regarded him for a moment, an odd look on her face. "Did you get taller?" Was the first thing she said to Sam, pulling her laptop out of her bag.

It seemed like she'd gotten new stickers on the top of it too.

She typed away on the computer for a couple of seconds, pulling up notes for the creature they were hunting. "Here," She said, turning the screen around, so it was facing the brothers but still slightly facing her. "This is what I know about it so far."

There weren't too many notes on the creature, but it was far more than the brothers had, though it wouldn't take much to have more than the Winchester boys, especially considering they didn't exactly have any notes.

"So," Charlie began. "It's not exactly common for monsters to stab people to death or cut them in half, or at least I don't think so, I'm not exactly a monster expert." It was evident by the way Charlie had muttered that she said the last part mostly to herself, though with Charlie, it was hard to tell sometimes.

"Anyways," She continued once Sam cleared his throat. "I did some digging, and I found a couple of things that this supernatural fuglie could be." Charlie clicked the keyboard once, and a couple of different tabs opened up, each one a different creature.

"Humans? Really?" Dean said once he looked over the tabs.

"Hey, humans are freaky when they want to be," Charlie shrugged, closing the tab. She looked through the list once more, closing a couple more windows along the way. "Back to the main topic, though," Charlie said, trying to get the conversation back in the right direction.

"I had a couple of ideas as to what this thing could be, but," Charlie clicked her mouse, letting the picture of a boy, clearly taken from the newspaper, appear in front of all of the open windows.

He was a young boy, probably a high schooler, who looked like a typical jock. As if to prove Sam right, the boy had been wearing a football jacket, a large smirk over his face as he held up a trophy in his hands. It almost reminded him of an old high school bully of his, one that he'd kicked the ass of, by the way, but Sam ignored it. That was all in the past now anyway.

"This guy, the one who survived, had something a little distinct carved into his face." She pulled up a different image this time, this one slightly more gruesome. Charlie had to look away from it, a queasy look on her face, but the Winchester brothers were fine. They'd seen, had gone through, much worse.

Sam supposed these types of things would take Charlie a while to get used to, it had certainly taken Sam years to find gruesome pictures like this not too bad though there were occasions that he couldn't handle things like that. It didn't happen often, but it happened enough times that Sam would berate himself over it later.

"So what? It's Jeff the killer or Joker?" Dean asked, and Sam felt his heart swell. His brother hadn't been making many jokes these days, had made absolutely none when they were working a case. "We don't exactly have Batman around,"

Charlie grinned a little at the references Dean had made. "We don't need Batman," She said. "We just need to meet with this kid. He can probably tell us more about the Kuchisake Onna." Her Japanese was off, not sounding very natural, and Charlie felt a little upset at that. She had worked really hard on the accent as a kid, trying to talk with a dialect, but she hadn't been able to master it. Elvish had been easier.

"Kuchi-what?" Dean had asked. Charlie sighed a little but didn't protest too much against Dean's words.

"Kuchisake Onna," She said again. "She's an old Japanese Urban Legend. Pretty much, she goes up to others and asks if they think she's pretty. If they say no, she'll stab the person repeatedly until they die. If they say yes, she'll take off her mask and ask again. If they say no, she cuts the person in half, Known Victim is Sexist Actress Brie Larson. If they say yes, they get a smile carved into their skin, same as her."

"Well, isn't that just fun," Dean sighed, grabbing a beer bottle from his duffel bag. Using his ring, Dean cracked the bottle open and took a swing of the amber liquid inside.

A part of Sam wanted to talk to his older brother about his drinking problem. It seemed like every time he looked over, every time Dean got the chance, he was drinking. That much alcohol wasn't good for his brother and, even if he could understand why he did it, to forget about all the horrors he'd faced. Purgatory and Hell, being tortured, dying so many times, it all piled up, Sam could understand, he really could, but at the end of the day, if hunting wasn't the end of Dean, then alcohol certainly would be.

Any time he brought up the subject, though, the older of the Winchester boys would change the topic, telling Sam to drop it and saying he wasn't in the mood to hear his younger brother go on about his unhealthy habits.

"Do we have a way of killing it?" Sam asked once it was clear that Dean wasn't going to ask.

Charlie rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I haven't gotten that far yet. I just know how it kills, I don't know how to stop it. Most websites don't have a section about how to kill the thing, they just tell you 'good luck now that you know it exists,' and then they send you off." Charlie turned her laptop back towards her. "But, I figured that talking to the boy might be able to help. I was gonna go in a couple of hours," Charlie said after she checked the time.

The brothers looked at each other, wordlessly exchanging their thoughts. After a moment, they nodded to each other, and Sam looked back at Charlie.

"Dean and I will go to see the kid, do you mind going to the closest library or university, see what you can find out? You seem like you know how to read Japanese,"

Charlie nodded, unsure what else to say. This was her first case, a little guidance was always helpful. But, Charlie had to wonder.

"Do you guys have twin telepathy or something? It was kinda cool the way you talked to each other through looks."

14 Year Old Kawamura was walking home from Highschool, the rain drenching him from head to toe. He'd been forced to stay late, something about his whole group of friends getting detention even though he hadn't done anything. Sure, he'd known that his friends were going to prank the janitor, but it wasn't like he'd participated, it just wasn't fair for him to be punished too.

Kawamura liked the rain, as did most of the kids at his school. They got rain often enough that it was just one of those things that he had gotten so used to, it felt odd if they didn't get rain in more than two consecutive weeks.

The downpour was so bad that he'd had to walk with his eyes squinted, one hand horizontally above his eyes so he could stop the rain from going in them. Moving aside, Kawamura watched as a car sped past him, a little too fast considering the weather outside. When water splashed everywhere after he raced over an unusually large pothole, Kawamura had to shift back a little to avoid getting his pants even more soaked than they already were.

For a second, Kawamura almost wondered about taking his phone out, travelling home doing absolutely nothing useful on the device, but decided not to. If his phone stopped working after using it in such torrential downpour, his parents might not get him a new phone, especially since he was on his third one in just as many months.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of tires screeching along the pavement, the sound cutting through the relative silence of their small town.

Kawamura ran over to the car; for as much as he liked to pretend to be a douche, he really wasn't, it was just that he had an image to maintain.

"Hey, you okay, Tanaka-Ojisan?" Kawamura looked through the window, wondering what had happened to the man. He tapped on the window, hoping to get the older man's attention.

"Am I pretty?" A female voice called out from behind him.

Kawamura froze, having heard the recent rumours about a Adult Woman asking whether or not she was pretty. Most of those stories didn't end well, they either died or were traumatized like Kawamura's best friend, American Exchange Student Ken, was. Kawamura didn't want to go through something scary like that.

So, instead of answering her question, Kawamura ignored her, choosing to try and wake the old man still sitting in the car. He pulled on the door handle, hoping that the car would open.

As luck would have it, the door did open with a quick roll of his wrist, and Kawamura dipped his head inside to see what was wrong with the man. What he saw shocked him.

The man was covered in blood, split down the middle in two separate parts. Kawamura screamed, hoping that someone would hear and run over. He was just a 14 year old, he didn't know how to handle a dead body.

"Hey," The same voice as before called out to him. Kawamura froze, slowly turning around to face the woman. "Am I pretty?"

If Kawamura was to be completely honest, then he would reply that she was. She had long, flowing black hair and dark blue eyes. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and she was covered in some blood. She wore a mask that covered the bottom of her face, and it almost looked like a medical mask, but it wasn't entirely. It was kind of strange, and Kawamura didn't really know how to describe it. She wore a white dress, the bottom of it splattered in blood.

"Yeah," He said after a moment of consideration.

The woman let out something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh and raised her hands. Kawamura flinched back, wondering what she was going to do. She lifted off the mask covering the bottom half of her face, and Kawamura bit back a scream. She looked  scary .

The bottom half of her face bloody, the coppery liquid oozing from the corners of her mouth. Upon a slightly closer look, Kawamura could see that blood wasn't flowing from the corners of her mouth but the slits making her mouth larger than they were. The slits made her look crazy, like she was constantly wearing a smile even though she wasn't. Her mouth was turned down into a frown, but the slits made it look like a smile so, overall, her face looked odd. It almost seemed like she couldn't decide what she wanted to do; smile or frown.

"Do I still look pretty?"

Kawamura didn't think so. Especially not after hearing her ghostly voice. Her mask must have had some kind of voice filter on it because she sounded so much scarier with it off, her voice was more hollow sounding. Kawamura tried to run away, he didn't want to be here anymore. When he attempted to, though, the woman appeared in front of him again, looking slightly angrier.

"Do I still look pretty?" She asked again. For the first time that night, Kawamura noticed that the rain seemed to be going  through  the woman.

Great, he was going to be murdered by a ghost. He still had so much he wanted to do in life. He wanted to get a good job, maybe even start a business of his own, get married to the love of his life though he didn't currently have one, he wanted to live a fulfilling life. He still had his whole life in front of him, he didn't want to die!

So he did the only logical thing. He lied. "Yes," He looked away from the woman, not wanting to see her creepy face for even a second longer.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say though, because the woman suddenly stepped closer, now in his personal space, and kept going closer and closer until she was practically in his face.

He took a step back, uncomfortable with how close she was.

"Why are you lying?" Kawamura felt his blood go cold, freeze right in his veins, and he stuttered.

"W-what are you talking about? I-I'm be-ing serious," Honestly, sometimes Kawamura wished he'd shut his stupid mouth. He didn't know how the woman knew he was lying earlier, but now, even Kawamura could tell he was lying.

"Why are you lying?" The woman's voice somehow simultaneously got deeper and more screechy, taking a step closer even as Kawamura took a step back, something glinting in her hands.

Kawamura looked down at it, wondering what it could be, scissors, before trying to run, only to find himself frozen in place.

Why couldn't he  move ? His hands started shaking, the woman back in his face.

"Am. I. Pretty?" She asked, anger seemingly radiating off of her.

"No!" He said finally, getting his jaw to unclench for a brief second. "No, I don't think you're pretty! Now leave me alone!" He clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come.

After almost a minute of nothing happening, Kawamura opened his eyes, only to see the woman smiling, one arm raised with the scissors in hand. As soon as he looked at her, the woman brought her hand down in one large motion, splitting the boy in half.

She then vanished without a trace, leaving the bodies for someone to find and mourn.

Sam and Dean returned after speaking to the boy in the mental ward of the hospital, his mouth bleeding, and the boy screaming in pain. They hadn't been able to get anything out of him, not anything significant anyway.

He just kept saying that she was scary, and she made him look like her, that he would never be able to look at himself ever again. Pretty soon after they'd asked him about Kuchisake Onna, his heartbeat started to rise, and he was too scared for a normal conversation. They'd been kicked out without another word.

"So, how did it go on your end?" Dean had asked after explaining the absolute waste of time talking to the high school boy had been.

"Pretty great, actually. Even though it's a small town, they have quite a bit on Japanese lore, though I guess that's to be expected, and even though it's not a lot, they have some stuff on Kuchisake Onna." Charlie then went on to explain. "They don't have anything on how to kill her, but she's just a vengeful spirit, so salting and burning should be good enough. Kuchisake Onna typically has two stories going for her. The first one is that she was really beautiful and vain, so when her husband went to war, she cheated on him. When her husband came back and found out what had happened, he cut open her mouth as punishment. That way, no one would find her beautiful ever again." Sam and Dean let the printed notes Charlie had handed them fall to the table, rubbing their foreheads in sync.

"The second story is that she was a single mom who was stressed with raising three kids, so she started to beat her children. Two of them eventually died from the abuse, and she told the last one that he needed to either kill her or she would end up killing him. In the end, when the kid said no, and she went after him, the kid used a knife and cut her mouth open and then she bled out."

Dean sighed. "Well, there can't be too many people in this town that fit the description. The killings only started about 30 years ago, so it shouldn't be too hard to find someone like that." He turned to face Charlie. "Charlie, you think you can look around a bit?"

Charlie nodded. "Give me a couple hours," She said before cracking her knuckles and grabbing her laptop.

Almost an hour later, Charlie stood up and walked over to the brothers.

"I found two people." She handed over her laptop so the Winchester boys could see what she'd found. "An adulterer in 1982 named Ame Takami. Her husband, a wealthy and influential person at the time, went on a business trip for a week, and she cheated on him. When he came back and found out what had happened, he had her tortured until she died, specifically marring her face. It says that he would even bring in others from the town who liked his wife and would force them to look at her, asking them if they thought she was pretty after her face was all bloody and swollen from the beatings." Charlie grimaced a little, and Sam couldn't help but sympathize with Charlie.

Charlie wasn't used to hunting or what the job entailed. It was a terrible first hunt if Sam had ever heard of one.

Charlie cleared her throat and opened up a different article for the brothers to look at. "The second woman was around in 1967. Her name was Aoyuki Amagi. She was a prostitute that almost everyone who met her adored. One guy who got together with her one time got it in his head that she loved him and kidnapped her, never really letting her see daylight. One day, she finally got so sick of him that she stabbed him and ran away. Seems like this woman had some seriously terrible luck because the creeper found her again and was pissed. Ripped her face open and strangled her to death and then, and this is weird, kept her body in his basement until he died. When he did, his son inherited the house and finally went to see what was in the basement 'cause his dad would never let him go. When he found her body and the diary she used to keep, he felt so guilty about what his father did that he held a proper burial for her and everything though she was just a pile of bones and some rotting flesh." Charlie took in a deep breath, not used to talking so much at once other than when she was ordering her army around. Even then, she'd never spoken quite so much at one time. "I found a passage from her diary. It said that every day the creeper would go to the basement and just creepily stare at her and compliment her beauty."

"Alright then, good job Charlie," Dean said, breaking the silence that had taken over once Charlie finished talking. "Does it say where their graves are?"

"No, but there's only one graveyard in town, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. I have the address for the graveyard if you want." She pulled up an address. The graveyard was a five-minute walk from the motel they were staying at, it seemed.

"Hey Charlie," Charlie looked over at Sam, curious as to what he wanted. "Do you happen to know how these people the Kuchisake Onna is killing are picked? It might help figure out which of the two women it is."

"Oh, I already looked into that. There aren't any relations between any of them. I asked around, and it seemed like the first ten, or so guys were all abusive or overall creepy pervs so it could be either of them. After that, the killings get random, like she just started to enjoy killing people."

"Perfect," Sam said. "A vengeful ghost who goes out of its way to kill," Sam stood up, getting ready to go to the car. "If she had a pattern, it would still be easier. She's ju-" Suddenly, Sam turned around to face Charlie. "Did you check geographical locations?" At Charlie's confused face, he went to elaborate.

"Yeah, I did," Charlie cut him off before he could even open his mouth. "The first ten or twenty were in roughly the same area, and eventually her killings started to branch out. Why?"

"Both of these women were tortured to some extent in one specific location. It could be that she is tied down to the spot where she was abused so severely, her emotions of anger, rage, whatever else it could be, aren't letting her leave. The more she kills, the more freedom she gets." It was easy enough to understand once Dean explained it. Charlie took out a notepad and pen from her bag and began to write something down.

"Are you taking notes?"

Charlie made a noise in the back of her throat and continued to write.

"Where were the first couple of deaths?"

"Um," Charlie began to ruffle through her bag and pulled out a map. "Here." She said, pointing to the Kikumi Manor. "Aoyuki Amagi was kept in this house from when she was 16 until she died, only having freedom for a week when she escaped at the age of 22."

"The question is, though, why did she wait so long before she started to kill?" Sam crossed his arms over his chest, and his brow furrowed in concentration. "She waited for almost twenty years,"

"Does it really matter as long as we gank her?" Charlie said, heading to the door.

They arrived at the graveyard almost 6 minutes later, they only wanted to see where both of the women's graves were right now. They'd come back to salt and burn them later once it was night.

Even if Shirakawa was a small town, considering just how many people had died in 30 years, there were quite a few graves. It took them almost fifteen minutes before they finally found the right tombstones, the names slightly withered away due to their old age. It was odd though, Aoyuki Amagi's headstone was clean looking even though it was old and didn't have any family that would be taking care of it for her.

"Oh, are you here to pay your respects to my mother?" A middle-aged woman asked.

"Your mother?" Sam asked, looking back at the name on the headstone. "You're Amgami Aoyuki-san's daughter?" Sam spoke in very broken Japanese. He and Dean had never learned, and he had to remind himself to add a suffix to the end of her name as well as saying her last name first. It might have been strange to Sam, but he had to try.

"Yes," The woman nodded, thankfully understanding what Sam had said. "I don't think I've ever seen you here before though,"

"Oh, we heard about what happened to your mother, and we wanted to pay our respects." Charlie piped up, and Sam was almost awed by how fluent she sounded, but then he remembered that she was a geek, and she took it upon herself to learn as many languages as she could when it came to her fandoms. It didn't make it any less impressive, just justified it a little more.

"Oh? Well, I'm sure Mom will be happy," The woman crouched in front of the grave and looked at it fondly.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," Dean said. "If you wouldn't mind my asking, how long have you been visiting your mom?" Dean's Japanese was just as bad as Sam's, maybe just slightly better.

"Almost 30 years now, I think. Once my adoptive parents told me about my mother, I've come every year."

"I see, thank you for your time." Dean turned around and walked back to the car, Sam and Charlie following behind.

"Well, now we know why she waited so long," Sam said once they were out of the woman's earshot. "She probably wanted to move on, but once her daughter started coming to visit her, something must have happened that made her vengeful."

"Let's just salt and burn her and be done with it."

They returned later that night, close to midnight, duffel bags with shovels they'd rented, gasoline, salt, and matches in them. They were carrying shotguns with rock salt in them too.

While Dean and Sam shovelled, Charlie was on lookout, waiting in case Kuchisake Onna decided to show up. As they struck the coffin, popping off the lid, Kuchisake Onna showed up. Charlie shot her in the face just as she asked, "Am I pretty?"

"Don't answer her!" Sam shouted as he ripped open a bag of salt with a swiss army knife. He passed the one he'd opened to Dean before grabbing another one for himself. "If you answer, it'll just make it worse."

Charlie nodded, looking around to see if she was still around. "Don't worry, I don't feel like getting my face carved or dying tonight anyways."

Kuchisake Onna appeared before her again.

"Am I pretty?" She asked, flinging away the shotgun, stepping into Charlie's personal space.

"If I answer will you get out of my face," Charlie said, trying to run to grab the gun. Kuchisake Onna wouldn't let her, though, freezing her in place.

"Am I pretty?"

Charlie thought for a second. "Yes," It wasn't a lie, not really. Aoyuki was really very pretty.

Kuchisake Onna took off her mask and asked again. "Do you still think I'm pretty now?"

Charlie didn't bother to look at her face. She just wanted to live. Charlie still had her whole life ahead of her. She still wanted to see her mom wake up because, no matter what anyone said, she  would wake up.

"Yes,"

Kuchisake Onna smiled and took out a pair of scissors.

"Then, I'll make us look the same," She walked closer, bringing the scissors closer to Charlie's cheek.

Sam helped Dean get out of the hole after getting out himself, grabbing his arms and pulling. Once she was safely at ground level, Sam snatched up a bottle of gasoline, pouring it over the woman's bones, Dean doing the same. He lit a match, tossing it into the coffin. He could hear as Kuchisake Onna screamed, flailing around as she burned, could feel the heat of the flames.

Waiting until the woman's ghost completely burned away, Sam, Charlie, and Dean started to shovel the dirt back on top of the now-empty coffin.

"Well, that was fun," Charlie said after a moment. For one quick second, Sam debated whether or not she was being sarcastic, finally deciding that she was. Looking over at Charlie, she had a cut on her cheek bleeding sluggishly.

"What happened to you?"

"She tried to carve my face," Charlie said after a moment's debate, reaching her hand up to touch the cut.

While the brothers looked at her worriedly, they all headed back to the hotel, adrenaline leaving their systems.


End file.
